In Java, how do I get the value of an enum inside the enum itself?

Question

I want to override toString() for my enum, Color. However, I can't figure out how to get the value of an instance of Color inside the Color enum. Is there a way to do this in Java?

Example:

public enum Color {
    RED,
    GREEN,
    BLUE,
    ...

    public String toString() {
        // return "R" for RED, "G", for GREEN, etc.
    }
}

Answer 1

You can also switch on the type of this, for example:

public enum Foo { 
  A, B, C, D 
  ; 
  @Override 
  public String toString() { 
    switch (this) { 
      case A: return "AYE"; 
      case B: return "BEE"; 
      case C: return "SEE"; 
      case D: return "DEE"; 
      default: throw new IllegalStateException(); 
    } 
  } 
}