Strange behavior using braces in Java

Question

When I run the following code:

public class Test {    Test(){     System.out.println("1");   }    {     System.out.println("2");   }    static {     System.out.println("3");   }    public static void main(String args[]) {     new Test();   } } 

I expect to get the output in this order:

1 2 3 

but what I got is in reverse order:

3 2 1 

Can anyone explain why it is output in reverse order?

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Also, when I create more than one instance of Test:

new Test(); new Test(); new Test(); new Test(); 

static block is executed only at first time.

Answer 1

It all depends on the order of execution of initialization statements. Your test demonstrates that this order is:

1. Static initialization blocks
2. Instance initialization blocks
3. Constructors

Edit

Thanks for the comments, now I can quote the appropriate part in the JVM specification. Here it is, the detailed initialization procedure.