How to Fix Java Error – Identifier Expected

Posted by Marta on November 21, 2021 Viewed 101515 times

In this article you will learn how to fix the java error: identifier expected to get a better understanding of this error and being able to avoid in the future.

This error is a very common compilation error that beginners frequently face when learning Java. I will explain what is the meaning of this error and how to fix it.

Table of Contents

What’s the meaning of Identifier Expected error?

The identifier expected error is a compilation error, which means the code doesn’t comply with the syntax rules of the Java language. For instance, one of the rules is that there should be a semicolon at the end of every statement. Missing the semicolon will cause a compilation error.

The identifier expected error is also a compilation error that indicates that you wrote a block of code somewhere where java doesn’t expect it.

Here is an example of piece of code that presents this error:

public class Example {
	System.out.println("Hello");
}

If you try to compile this class, using the javac command in the terminal, you will see the following error:

javac Example.java

Output:

Example.java:5: error: <identifier> expected
    System.out.println("Hello");
                      ^
Example.java:5: error: illegal start of type
    System.out.println("Hello");
                       ^

This error is slightly confusing because it seems to suggest there is something wrong with line 2. However what it really means is that this code is not in the correct place.

How to Fix it

We have seen what the error actually means, however how could I fix it? The error appears because I added some code in the wrong place, so what’s the correct place to right code? Java expects the code always inside a method. Therefore, all necessary to fix this problem is adding a class method and place the code inside. See this in action below:

public class Example {

    public void print() {
        System.out.println("Hello");
    }
}

The code above will compile without any issue.

Another example

Here is another example that will return the identifier expected error:

public class Example {

    public void print() {
        System.out.println("Hello");
    }

    Example e = new Example();
    e.print(); // Here is the error
}

Output:

Example.java:10: error: <identifier> expected
    e.print();
           ^

As before, this compilation error means that there is a piece of code: e.print() that is not inside a class method. You might be wondering, why line 7 ( Example e = new Example(); ) is not considered a compilation error? Variable declarations are allowed outside a method, because they will be considered class fields and their scope will be the whole class.

Here is a possible way to fix the code above:

public class Example {

    public void print() {
        System.out.println("Hello");
    }

    Example e = new Example();

    public void method2(){
        e.print();
    }
}

The fix is simply placing the code inside a method.

Conclusion

To summarise, this article covers how to fix the identifier expected java error. This compilation error will occur when you write code outside a class method. In java, this is not allow, all code should be placed inside a class method.

In case you want to explore java further, I will recommend the official documentation

Hope you enjoy the tutorial and you learn what to do when you find the identifier expected error. Thanks for reading and supporting this blog.

Happy coding!