Can we overload the main method in Java?

Question

Can we overload a main() method in Java?

Answer 1

You can overload the main() method, but only public static void main(String[] args) will be used when your class is launched by the JVM. For example:

public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("main(String[] args)");
    }

    public static void main(String arg1) {
        System.out.println("main(String arg1)");
    }

    public static void main(String arg1, String arg2) {
        System.out.println("main(String arg1, String arg2)");
    }
}

That will always print main(String[] args) when you run java Test ... from the command line, even if you specify one or two command-line arguments.

You can call the main() method yourself from code, of course - at which point the normal overloading rules will be applied.

EDIT: Note that you can use a varargs signature, as that's equivalent from a JVM standpoint:

public static void main(String... args)