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Asked: 2026-06-05T20:02:18+00:00

I’m new to java and packages and need some help navigating them. Currently I

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I’m new to java and packages and need some help navigating them. Currently I have a functioning java program for a web application where all my .java and .class files sit in the myapp/WEB-INF/classes directory on a linux server:

myapp/WEB-INF/classes/MyJavaClass1.class
myapp/WEB-INF/classes/MyJavaClass2.class
myapp/WEB-INF/classes/MyJavaClass3.class

None of these files include a line of code for package so I assume the system default package is being used.

Then I added a mytools directory, and created a new class in there. 

myapp/WEB-INF/classes/mytools/MyToolClass1.class

But it seems like this new class cannot access the classes in the myapp/WEB-INF/classes directory unless those java files include a package name. So my question is how to change the files to go from a system default package (e.g. no package specified) to a named package?

Should I append package mypackage; to the first line of MyJavaClass1.java, MyJavaClass2.java, and MyJavaClass3.java, and append package mypackage.mytools; to MyToolClass1.java?

Or, do I also need to create a directory mypackage such that myapp/WEB-INF/classes/mypackage and place the files MyJavaClass1.class etc. in there, before doing the above?

Then when I compile the .java files, do I compile each within their own directory (or do all files need to be compiled from top level directory)?

UPDATE 1

If I simply keep the default package (i.e. no package) for the java files in myapp/WEB-INF/classes, and append:

package mytools;
import MyJavaClass1;

to MyToolClass1.java and try to compile MyToolClass1.java from the mytools directory, I get the following compile errors:

MyToolClass1.java:21: '.' expected
import MyJavaClass1;
                   ^
MyToolClass1.java:21: ';' expected
import MyJavaClass1;
                    ^
2 errors
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    In java packages are defined at the top of the class as you described. Your code is working only because all code is at the root, i.e., no package. I recommend that you move all your classes into a package… move them all into the mytools dir and add package mytools; to each.

    For a quick reference on package best practices, read through this package tutorial. You’ll probably want to package your classes by related function, meaning some may go into mytools directory and some my go into mytools/parse (package mytools.parse;)

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