Can I specify ordinal for enum in Java?

Question

The ordinal() method returns the ordinal of an enum instance.
How can I set the ordinal for an enum?

Answer 1

As the accepted answer points out, you can't set the ordinal. The closest you can get to this is with a custom property:

public enum MonthEnum {

    JANUARY(1),
    FEBRUARY(2),
    MARCH(3),
    APRIL(4),
    MAY(5),
    JUNE(6),
    JULY(7),
    AUGUST(8),
    SEPTEMBER(9),
    OCTOBER(10),
    NOVEMBER(11),
    DECEMBER(12);

    MonthEnum(int monthOfYear) {
        this.monthOfYear = monthOfYear;
    }

    private int monthOfYear;

    public int asMonthOfYear() {
        return monthOfYear;
    }

}

Note: By default, enum values start at 0 (not 1) if you don't specify values. Also, the values do not have to increment by 1 for each item.