Super Keyword

What is the super keyword?

this keyword in Java is used to refer to the instance of the current class.

In a similar fashion, the super keyword in Java is used to refer to the SuperClass members from inside the immediate Subclass. The use of super comes into play when we implement inheritance.

Use cases of the super keyword

The super keyword is used in three major contexts:

Accessing parent class fields

Consider the fields named as fuelCap defined inside a Vehicle class to keep track of the fuel capacity of a vehicle. Another class named as Car extends from this Vehicle class. We declare a field inside the Car class with the same name i.e. fuelCap but different value. Now if we want to refer to the fuelCap field of the SuperClass inside the Subclass, we will then have to use the super keyword.

Let’s understand this using a bit of code.