Multiple Enum Classes in one Java File

Question

I have 3 String arrays with constants. eg:

 String[] digit = {"one", "two", "three"};
 String[] teen= {"ten", "twenty", "thirty"};
 String[] anchors = {"hundred", "thousand", "million"};

I'm thinking of transferring these to enums separately, so I will have 3 enum classes: digit, teen and anchors with getValue methods implemented. But I don't want to have them in separate files as I have only small data and same type of data. What is the best way to have all these with access methods in same meaningful java file?

Solution

They can be three inner classes like this:

public class Types {
  public enum Digits {...}
  public enum Teens {...}
  ....
}

Then refer them Types.Digits.ONE, Types.Teen.TWENTY etc.

You can also use static imports like this:

import Types.Digits;
import Types.Teen;

..

in order to have shorter references: Digits.ONE, Teen.TWENTY etc.

Comments

[jpm]

The only suggestion I would make is to change the signature of the enums to public static enum. That way, we can use a static import on the needed enums and save a bit of typing for the user.

[Eugene Retunsky]

enums are already static - you don't have to declare them as static (like interfaces).

[jpm]

Right you are. I'm sure I learned that at some point. Still, unless using the fully qualified name adds readability or clarity, I would still suggest going with the static import, though that's really a point of personal preference, I suppose.