Is a final variable instantiated everytime

Question

When we have a final instance variable of a class, is it instantiated for each object created of the class or just created once and referred?
And what is the case if the final variable is a local class variable??

Answer 1

The final modifier simply indicates that the variable can be assigned once and never again. It has no impact on the instantiation; the rules are the same as for normal variables. All the final modifier does is prevent the value being assigned a second time.

Examples below.

private final List myList = new ArrayList();

The list will be instantiated each time this is run, i.e. each time the enclosing class is instantiated.

public void bob() {
    final List myList = new ArrayList();
}

The list will be instantiated each time this is run, i.e. each time the method bob is invoked.

private static final List MY_LIST = new ArrayList();

Again, the list will be instantiated each time this is run. As this is also a static field initializer, this code will be run when the class is first loaded. So, for simplistic programs, this will be run once -- in scenarios where multiple class loaders are in play (e.g. app-servers etc), however, this will be run once each time the class is loaded in a new class loader.