Java tutorial
/* * Copyright (c) 2003, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER. * * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as * published by the Free Software Foundation. Oracle designates this * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code. * * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that * accompanied this code). * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. * * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any * questions. */ package java.lang.annotation; /** * Indicates how long annotations with the annotated type are to * be retained. If no Retention annotation is present on * an annotation type declaration, the retention policy defaults to * {@code RetentionPolicy.CLASS}. * * <p>A Retention meta-annotation has effect only if the * meta-annotated type is used directly for annotation. It has no * effect if the meta-annotated type is used as a member type in * another annotation type. * * @author Joshua Bloch * @since 1.5 * @jls 9.6.4.2 @Retention */ @Documented @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME) @Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE) public @interface Retention { /** * Returns the retention policy. * @return the retention policy */ RetentionPolicy value(); }