Parameters and Arguments

Information can be passed to methods as parameter. Parameters act as variables inside the method.

Parameters are specified after the method name, inside the parentheses. You can add as many parameters as you want, just separate them with a comma.

The following example has a method that takes a String called fname as parameter. When the method is called, we pass along a first name, which is used inside the method to print the full name:

Example

When a parameter is passed to the method, it is called an argument. So, from the example above: fname is a parameter, while Liam, Jenny and Anja are arguments.

Multiple Parameters

You can have as many parameters as you like:

Example

Note that when you are working with multiple parameters, the method call must have the same number of arguments as there are parameters, and the arguments must be passed in the same order.

Return Values

The void keyword, used in the examples above, indicates that the method should not return a value. If you want the method to return a value, you can use a primitive data type (such as int, char, etc.) instead of void, and use the return keyword inside the method:

Example