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/OpenJDK 25

Class URLClassLoader

java.lang.Object
java.lang.ClassLoader
java.security.SecureClassLoader
java.net.URLClassLoader
All Implemented Interfaces:
Closeable, AutoCloseable
public class URLClassLoader extends SecureClassLoader implements Closeable
This class loader is used to load classes and resources from a search path of URLs referring to both JAR files and directories. Any jar: scheme URL (see JarURLConnection) is assumed to refer to a JAR file. Any file: scheme URL that ends with a '/' is assumed to refer to a directory. Otherwise, the URL is assumed to refer to a JAR file which will be opened as needed.

This class loader supports the loading of classes and resources from the contents of a multi-release JAR file that is referred to by a given URL.

Since:
1.2

Constructor Summary

Constructor Description
URLClassLoader(String name, URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent)
Constructs a new named URLClassLoader for the specified URLs.
URLClassLoader(String name, URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent, URLStreamHandlerFactory factory)
Constructs a new named URLClassLoader for the specified URLs, parent class loader, and URLStreamHandlerFactory.
URLClassLoader(URL[] urls)
Constructs a new URLClassLoader for the specified URLs using the system class loader as the parent.
URLClassLoader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent)
Constructs a new URLClassLoader for the given URLs.
URLClassLoader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent, URLStreamHandlerFactory factory)
Constructs a new URLClassLoader for the specified URLs, parent class loader, and URLStreamHandlerFactory.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type Method Description
protected void addURL(URL url)
Appends the specified URL to the list of URLs to search for classes and resources.
void close()
Closes this URLClassLoader, so that it can no longer be used to load new classes or resources that are defined by this loader.
protected Package definePackage(String name, Manifest man, URL url)
Defines a new package by name in this URLClassLoader.
protected Class<?> findClass(String name)
Finds and loads the class with the specified name from the URL search path.
URL findResource(String name)
Finds the resource with the specified name on the URL search path.
Enumeration<URL> findResources(String name)
Returns an Enumeration of URLs representing all of the resources on the URL search path having the specified name.
protected PermissionCollection getPermissions(CodeSource codesource)
Returns an empty Permission collection.
InputStream getResourceAsStream(String name)
Returns an input stream for reading the specified resource.
URL[] getURLs()
Returns the search path of URLs for loading classes and resources.
static URLClassLoader newInstance(URL[] urls)
Creates a new instance of URLClassLoader for the specified URLs and default parent class loader.
static URLClassLoader newInstance(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent)
Creates a new instance of URLClassLoader for the specified URLs and parent class loader.

Methods declared in class SecureClassLoader

defineClass, defineClass

Methods declared in class ClassLoader

clearAssertionStatus, defineClass, defineClass, defineClass, defineClass, definePackage, findClass, findLibrary, findLoadedClass, findResource, findSystemClass, getClassLoadingLock, getDefinedPackage, getDefinedPackages, getName, getPackage, getPackages, getParent, getPlatformClassLoader, getResource, getResources, getSystemClassLoader, getSystemResource, getSystemResourceAsStream, getSystemResources, getUnnamedModule, isRegisteredAsParallelCapable, loadClass, loadClass, registerAsParallelCapable, resolveClass, resources, setClassAssertionStatus, setDefaultAssertionStatus, setPackageAssertionStatus, setSigners

Methods declared in class Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Details

URLClassLoader

public URLClassLoader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent)
Constructs a new URLClassLoader for the given URLs. The URLs will be searched in the order specified for classes and resources after first searching in the specified parent class loader. Any jar: scheme URL is assumed to refer to a JAR file. Any file: scheme URL that ends with a '/' is assumed to refer to a directory. Otherwise, the URL is assumed to refer to a JAR file which will be downloaded and opened as needed.
API Note:
If parent is specified as null (for the bootstrap class loader) then there is no guarantee that all platform classes are visible. See Run-time Built-in Class Loaders for information on the bootstrap class loader and other built-in class loaders.
Parameters:
urls - the URLs from which to load classes and resources
parent - the parent class loader for delegation, can be null for the bootstrap class loader
Throws:
NullPointerException - if urls or any of its elements is null.

URLClassLoader

public URLClassLoader(URL[] urls)
Constructs a new URLClassLoader for the specified URLs using the system class loader as the parent. The URLs will be searched in the order specified for classes and resources after first searching in the parent class loader. Any URL that ends with a '/' is assumed to refer to a directory. Otherwise, the URL is assumed to refer to a JAR file which will be downloaded and opened as needed.
Parameters:
urls - the URLs from which to load classes and resources
Throws:
NullPointerException - if urls or any of its elements is null.

URLClassLoader

public URLClassLoader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent, URLStreamHandlerFactory factory)
Constructs a new URLClassLoader for the specified URLs, parent class loader, and URLStreamHandlerFactory. The parent argument will be used as the parent class loader for delegation. The factory argument will be used as the stream handler factory to obtain protocol handlers when creating new jar URLs.
API Note:
If parent is specified as null (for the bootstrap class loader) then there is no guarantee that all platform classes are visible. See Run-time Built-in Class Loaders for information on the bootstrap class loader and other built-in class loaders.
Parameters:
urls - the URLs from which to load classes and resources
parent - the parent class loader for delegation, can be null for the bootstrap class loader
factory - the URLStreamHandlerFactory to use when creating URLs
Throws:
NullPointerException - if urls or any of its elements is null.

URLClassLoader

public URLClassLoader(String name, URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent)
Constructs a new named URLClassLoader for the specified URLs. The URLs will be searched in the order specified for classes and resources after first searching in the specified parent class loader. Any URL that ends with a '/' is assumed to refer to a directory. Otherwise, the URL is assumed to refer to a JAR file which will be downloaded and opened as needed.
API Note:
If parent is specified as null (for the bootstrap class loader) then there is no guarantee that all platform classes are visible. See Run-time Built-in Class Loaders for information on the bootstrap class loader and other built-in class loaders.
Parameters:
name - class loader name; or null if not named
urls - the URLs from which to load classes and resources
parent - the parent class loader for delegation, can be null for the bootstrap class loader
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if the given name is empty.
NullPointerException - if urls or any of its elements is null.
Since:
9

URLClassLoader

public URLClassLoader(String name, URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent, URLStreamHandlerFactory factory)
Constructs a new named URLClassLoader for the specified URLs, parent class loader, and URLStreamHandlerFactory. The parent argument will be used as the parent class loader for delegation. The factory argument will be used as the stream handler factory to obtain protocol handlers when creating new jar URLs.
API Note:
If parent is specified as null (for the bootstrap class loader) then there is no guarantee that all platform classes are visible. See Run-time Built-in Class Loaders for information on the bootstrap class loader and other built-in class loaders.
Parameters:
name - class loader name; or null if not named
urls - the URLs from which to load classes and resources
parent - the parent class loader for delegation, can be null for the bootstrap class loader
factory - the URLStreamHandlerFactory to use when creating URLs
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if the given name is empty.
NullPointerException - if urls or any of its elements is null.
Since:
9

Method Details

getResourceAsStream

public InputStream getResourceAsStream(String name)
Returns an input stream for reading the specified resource. If this loader is closed, then any resources opened by this method will be closed.

The search order is described in the documentation for ClassLoader.getResource(String).

Overrides:
getResourceAsStream in class ClassLoader
Parameters:
name - The resource name
Returns:
An input stream for reading the resource, or null if the resource could not be found
Throws:
NullPointerException - If name is null
Since:
1.7

close

public void close() throws IOException
Closes this URLClassLoader, so that it can no longer be used to load new classes or resources that are defined by this loader. Classes and resources defined by any of this loader's parents in the delegation hierarchy are still accessible. Also, any classes or resources that are already loaded, are still accessible.

In the case of jar: and file: URLs, it also closes any files that were opened by it. If another thread is loading a class when the close method is invoked, then the result of that load is undefined.

The method makes a best effort attempt to close all opened files, by catching IOExceptions internally. Unchecked exceptions and errors are not caught. Calling close on an already closed loader has no effect.

Specified by:
close in interface AutoCloseable
Specified by:
close in interface Closeable
Throws:
IOException - if closing any file opened by this class loader resulted in an IOException. Any such exceptions are caught internally. If only one is caught, then it is re-thrown. If more than one exception is caught, then the second and following exceptions are added as suppressed exceptions of the first one caught, which is then re-thrown.
Since:
1.7

addURL

protected void addURL(URL url)
Appends the specified URL to the list of URLs to search for classes and resources.

If the URL specified is null or is already in the list of URLs, or if this loader is closed, then invoking this method has no effect.

Parameters:
url - the URL to be added to the search path of URLs

getURLs

public URL[] getURLs()
Returns the search path of URLs for loading classes and resources. This includes the original list of URLs specified to the constructor, along with any URLs subsequently appended by the addURL() method.
Returns:
the search path of URLs for loading classes and resources.

findClass

protected Class<?> findClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException
Finds and loads the class with the specified name from the URL search path. Any URLs referring to JAR files are loaded and opened as needed until the class is found.
Overrides:
findClass in class ClassLoader
Parameters:
name - the name of the class
Returns:
the resulting class
Throws:
ClassNotFoundException - if the class could not be found, or if the loader is closed.
NullPointerException - if name is null.

definePackage

protected Package definePackage(String name, Manifest man, URL url)
Defines a new package by name in this URLClassLoader. The attributes contained in the specified Manifest will be used to obtain package version and sealing information. For sealed packages, the additional URL specifies the code source URL from which the package was loaded.
Parameters:
name - the package name
man - the Manifest containing package version and sealing information
url - the code source url for the package, or null if none
Returns:
the newly defined Package object
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if the package name is already defined by this class loader

findResource

public URL findResource(String name)
Finds the resource with the specified name on the URL search path.
Overrides:
findResource in class ClassLoader
Parameters:
name - the name of the resource
Returns:
a URL for the resource, or null if the resource could not be found, or if the loader is closed.

findResources

public Enumeration<URL> findResources(String name) throws IOException
Returns an Enumeration of URLs representing all of the resources on the URL search path having the specified name.
Overrides:
findResources in class ClassLoader
Parameters:
name - the resource name
Returns:
An Enumeration of URLs. If the loader is closed, the Enumeration contains no elements.
Throws:
IOException - if an I/O exception occurs

getPermissions

protected PermissionCollection getPermissions(CodeSource codesource)
Returns an empty Permission collection.
Overrides:
getPermissions in class SecureClassLoader
Parameters:
codesource - the CodeSource
Returns:
an empty Permission collection
Throws:
NullPointerException - if codesource is null.

newInstance

public static URLClassLoader newInstance(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent)
Creates a new instance of URLClassLoader for the specified URLs and parent class loader.
Parameters:
urls - the URLs to search for classes and resources
parent - the parent class loader for delegation
Returns:
the resulting class loader
Throws:
NullPointerException - if urls or any of its elements is null.

newInstance

public static URLClassLoader newInstance(URL[] urls)
Creates a new instance of URLClassLoader for the specified URLs and default parent class loader.
Parameters:
urls - the URLs to search for classes and resources
Returns:
the resulting class loader
Throws:
NullPointerException - if urls or any of its elements is null.

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Documentation extracted from Debian's OpenJDK Development Kit package.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception.
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https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/25/docs/api/java.base/java/net/URLClassLoader.html