The this keyword is used with instance methods and constructors to refer to the current object. Use of the keyword this in the very first statement in the body of a constructor means that another constructor in the same class is being called to assist in creation of the object. For example:
public class MyClass
{
private long birthday;
private String name;
// first constructor
MyClass( String bDay )
{
birthday = formatBirthday( bDay );
}
// second constructor
MyClass(String nm, String bDay )
{ this ( bDay );
name = new String(nm);
}
}
Note The keyword this must appear as the first statement in the body of a constructor, otherwise your code will not compile.
Use of the keyword this in an instance method is helpful when a variable using the same name appears within the method body. For example, when you refer to a class scope variable in a method containing the variable name x, the class scope variable would be known as this.x.