Method Overriding In Java

In this tutorial, we will see the method overriding in Java.

When a child class provides a specific implementation for the method already declared in parent class, it is called a method overriding.

So both parent class and child class will have the same method but with different implementations.

Example:-

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/**
 * A Java Program to explain the method of overriding.
 * @author coderolls.com
 *
 */
public class Test {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog dog = new Dog();
    Cat cat = new Cat();
    
    dog.printSound();
    cat.printSound();
  }

}
class Animal {
  public void printSound() {
    System.out.println("Print sound of animal");
  }
}

class Dog extends Animal {
  @Override
  public void printSound() {
    System.out.println("Dogs bark..!");
  }
}

class Cat extends Animal {
  @Override
  public void printSound() {
    System.out.println("Cats meow..!");
  }
}

1. In the above example Animal is the parent class. It has the printSound() method with its own implementation.
2. Next, we have created a child class Dog by extending the parent class Animal. We know dogs do bark so we can provide the specific implementation for the printSound() method in the Dog class.
3. Also, we have created a child class Cat by extending the parent class Animal. We can again provide the cat-specific implementation for the printSound() method in the Cat class.
4. In the Test class, we have created objects of the Dog and Cat class and invoked their printSound() method. We can see, that when we invoke the printSound() method on Dog object dog, it prints the Dogs bark..! i.e. dog specific implementation. And when we invoke the printSound() method on the Cat object cat, it prints the Cats meow..! i.e. dog specific implementation