What is the underscore actually doing in this Java code? [closed]

Question

I just began to learn Java.

My friend who is helping me study just sent me this and said 'figure this out'.

Unfortunately I am unable to read this. It looks like Perl to me.

class _{_ _;_(){_=this;}} 

What does it mean?

Answer 1

_ is the class name. It's a very confusing one, but it works!

With the class renamed:

class Something {Something something;Something(){something=this;}} 

And cleaned up:

class Something {     Something something;     Something() {         something=this;     } } 

And you can go crazy with this odd naming :)

class _{_ __;_ ____;_(){__=this;____=__;}_(_ ___){__=___;}} 

In fact, Unicode is even supported, so this is valid:

class 合法類別名稱{合法類別名稱(){}} 

Answer 2

_ is the class name, underscore is a valid Java variable name, you just need to indent your code to deobfuscate it:

class _{     _ _;     _(){      _=this;    } } 

Like:

class A{     A A;     A(){      A=this;    } } 

Edit: thanks to @Daniel Fischer

Type names and variable names have different namespaces. and for example code class FOO { FOO FOO; } is valid in Java.

Summary

• _ is a class name e.g at class _{
• _ is a class member name e.g at _ _; and _=this
• _ is a constructor name e.g. at _()

Remember: Java uses six different namespaces:

• Package names,
• type names,
• field (variable) names,
• method names,
• local variable names (including parameters), and
• labels.

In addition, each declared enum has its own namespace. Identical names of different types do not conflict; for example, a method may be named the same as a local variable.