Java Tutorial/Reflection/PhantomReference
A phantom reference is used to determine when an object is just about to be reclaimed.
<source lang="java">
import java.lang.ref.PhantomReference; import java.lang.ref.Reference; import java.lang.ref.ReferenceQueue; public class Main {
public static void main(String[] argv) throws Exception { ReferenceQueue rq = new ReferenceQueue(); PhantomReference<String> pr = new PhantomReference<String>("object", rq); while (true) { Reference r = rq.remove(); if (r == pr) { // about to be reclaimed. r.clear(); } } }
}</source>
Testing PhantomReference
<source lang="java">
import java.lang.ref.PhantomReference; import java.lang.ref.Reference; import java.lang.ref.ReferenceQueue; import java.lang.ref.SoftReference; import java.lang.ref.WeakReference; import java.util.HashMap; public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) { ReferenceQueue referenceQueue = new ReferenceQueue(); Object object = new Object() { public String toString() { return "Referenced Object"; } }; Object data = new Object() { public String toString() { return "Data"; } }; HashMap map = new HashMap(); Reference reference = null; System.out.println("Testing PhantomReference."); reference = new PhantomReference(object, referenceQueue); map.put(reference, data); System.out.println(reference.get()); System.out.println(map.get(reference)); System.out.println(reference.isEnqueued()); System.gc(); System.out.println(reference.get()); System.out.println(map.get(reference)); System.out.println(reference.isEnqueued()); object = null; data = null; System.gc(); System.out.println(reference.get()); System.out.println(map.get(reference)); System.out.println(reference.isEnqueued()); }
}</source>