String Array Assignment in Java [duplicate]

Question

Code:

String Foo[];
Foo={"foo","Foo"};

Error at Line 2: Illegal Start of expression
The code works if I say:

String Foo[]={"foo","Foo"};

Why does this happen, and how should I do the required without generating an error? This also happens with other data types.

Would appreciate if you could explain in layman terms.

Answer 1

{"foo","Foo"} is an array initializer and it isn't a complete array creation expression:

An array initializer may be specified in a declaration (§8.3, §9.3, §14.4), or as part of an array creation expression (§15.10), to create an array and provide some initial values.

^{Java Specification}

Use new String[] {"foo","Foo"} instead.