Java元注解之@Retention

首先，元注解是指标注在注解上的注解...有点拗口

@Retention ：定义该注解的保留级别

其中@Retention(RetentionPolicy.*)的RetentionPolicy是该元注解的枚举属性，有三个值

package java.lang.annotation;

/**
 * Annotation retention policy.  The constants of this enumerated type
 * describe the various policies for retaining annotations.  They are used
 * in conjunction with the {@link Retention} meta-annotation type to specify
 * how long annotations are to be retained.
 *
 * @author  Joshua Bloch
 * @since 1.5
 */
public enum RetentionPolicy {
    /**
     * Annotations are to be discarded by the compiler.
     */
    SOURCE,

    /**
     * Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler
     * but need not be retained by the VM at run time.  This is the default
     * behavior.
     */
    CLASS,

    /**
     * Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler and
     * retained by the VM at run time, so they may be read reflectively.
     *
     * @see java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedElement
     */
    RUNTIME
}

三个值对应三个级别：

1.SOURCE  即该注解只存在于源码中，编译成class文件的时候就被转换成响应的代码了...

2.CLASS 即该注解存在于源码和class文件中，运行时不存在

3.RUNTIME 即该注解存在于源码、class文件、运行时

三者的lifecycle：SOURCE<CLASS<RUNTIME 即后者能作用到的范围，前者亦可。

注：利用反射机制获取Class的注解时，只有RUNTIME的注解才能被获取到。