Will an element be garbage collected if there is a reference to its field?

Question

I.e., in

class A {
    public String s;
}

and

A a1 = new A();
a1.s = \"bla\";
A a2 = new A();
a2.s = a1.s;
a1 = null;
         


        

Answer 1

Since A has only a reference to s, a2.s pointing to a1.s would not affect a1's garbage collection.

i.e a1 is eligible for GC, but the object referred to by a2.s (or a1.s) will not be eligible for GC.