Javadoc

Internal

• java

Link to External Content

/**
 * For more details see {@linktourl https://example.com}
 */

Inheriting an Overridden Method Comments

When implementing an interface method in an implementation class without providing any javadoc for the overridden method, the overridden method automatically inherits the javadoc of the interface method, with some additional clarifying message to the effect that the documentation was inherited:

public interface A {
    /**
     * This is the interface javadoc.
     */
    public void something();
}

public class AImpl implements A {
    @Override
    public void something() {

        System.out.println("something");
    }
}

The resulted AImpl javadoc - note that the interface javadoc was completely overwritten:

If the overridden method provides its own javadoc, it will overwrite the interface javadoc:

public class AImpl implements A {
    /**
     * This is documentation for implementation-specific behavior.
     */
    @Override
    public void something() {

        System.out.println("something");
    }
}

The resulted AImpl javadoc:

However, if the overridden

An overridden method automatically inherits the javadoc of its

If you define javadocs in the subclass they will replace the inherited javadocs, but you can use {@inheritDoc} to include the respective superclass javadoc comments in the subclass javadocs.