A 'for' loop to iterate over an enum in Java

Question

I have an enum in Java for the cardinal & intermediate directions:

public enum Direction {    NORTH,    NORTHEAST,    EAST,    SOUTHEAST,    SOUTH,    SOUTHWEST,    WEST,    NORTHWEST } 

How can I write a for loop that iterates through each of these enum values?

Answer 1

.values()

You can call the values() method on your enum.

for (Direction dir : Direction.values()) {   // do what you want } 

This values() method is implicitly declared by the compiler. So it is not listed on Enum doc.