Can a private method in super class be overridden in the sub-class?

Question

Can private methods be overridden in Java? If no, then how does the following code work?

class Base{       private void func(){             System.out.println("In Base Class func method !!");                }; }  class Derived extends Base{       public void func(){   //  Is this a Method Overriding..????                     System.out.println("In Derived Class func method");        }       }  class InheritDemo{       public static void main(String [] args){                                   Derived d = new Derived();             d.func();        } } 

Answer 1

No, you are not overriding it. You can check by trying to mark it with @Override, or by trying to make a call to super.func();. Both won't work; they throw compiler errors.

Furthermore, check this out:

class Base {       private void func(){             System.out.println("In base func method");                };       public void func2() {           System.out.println("func2");           func();       } }  class Derived extends Base {       public void func(){   //  Is this an overriding method?             System.out.println("In Derived Class func method");        } }  class InheritDemo {       public static void main(String [] args) {             Derived D = new Derived();             D.func2();        } } 

It will print:

func2 In base func method 

When you change func() in Base to public, then it will be an override, and the output will change to:

func2 In Derived Class func method