Understanding Java's transient Keyword: Usage, Summary, and Edge Cases

In Java, implementing the Serializable interface allows an object to be automatically serialized, but sometimes certain fields such as passwords should not be persisted; the transient keyword marks those fields to be omitted from the serialized form.

The article provides a complete example where a User class implements Serializable and declares the passwd field as transient . After writing the object to a file and reading it back, the password is printed as null , demonstrating that the transient field was not stored.

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
import java.io.Serializable;

/**
 * @description 使用transient关键字不序列化某个变量
 *         注意读取的时候，读取数据的顺序一定要和存放数据的顺序保持一致
 *
 * @author Alexia
 * @date  2013-10-15
 */
public class TransientTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        User user = new User();
        user.setUsername("Alexia");
        user.setPasswd("123456");
        System.out.println("read before Serializable: ");
        System.out.println("username: " + user.getUsername());
        System.err.println("password: " + user.getPasswd());
        try {
            ObjectOutputStream os = new ObjectOutputStream(
                    new FileOutputStream("C:/user.txt"));
            os.writeObject(user); // 将User对象写进文件
            os.flush();
            os.close();
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        try {
            ObjectInputStream is = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(
                    "C:/user.txt"));
            user = (User) is.readObject(); // 从流中读取User的数据
            is.close();
            System.out.println("\nread after Serializable: ");
            System.out.println("username: " + user.getUsername());
            System.err.println("password: " + user.getPasswd());
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

class User implements Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 8294180014912103005L; 
    private String username;
    private transient String passwd;
    public String getUsername() {
        return username;
    }
    public void setUsername(String username) {
        this.username = username;
    }
    public String getPasswd() {
        return passwd;
    }
    public void setPasswd(String passwd) {
        this.passwd = passwd;
    }
}

read before Serializable: 
username: Alexia
password: 123456

read after Serializable: 
username: Alexia
password: null

Key points summarized: (1) a transient field is excluded from persistence; (2) transient can only modify instance variables, not methods, classes, or local variables; (3) static fields are never serialized, and after deserialization they retain the value currently held by the JVM, not the value saved in the stream.

A second example adds a static username field to the User class, changes its value before deserialization, and shows that the deserialized object reflects the new static value ( jmwang ) while the transient password remains null .

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
import java.io.Serializable;

/**
 * @description 使用transient关键字不序列化某个变量
 *         注意读取的时候，读取数据的顺序一定要和存放数据的顺序保持一致
 *
 * @author Alexia
 * @date  2013-10-15
 */
public class TransientTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        User user = new User();
        user.setUsername("Alexia");
        user.setPasswd("123456");
        System.out.println("read before Serializable: ");
        System.out.println("username: " + user.getUsername());
        System.err.println("password: " + user.getPasswd());
        try {
            ObjectOutputStream os = new ObjectOutputStream(
                    new FileOutputStream("C:/user.txt"));
            os.writeObject(user); // 将User对象写进文件
            os.flush();
            os.close();
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        try {
            // 在反序列化之前改变username的值
            User.username = "jmwang";
            ObjectInputStream is = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(
                    "C:/user.txt"));
            user = (User) is.readObject(); // 从流中读取User的数据
            is.close();
            System.out.println("\nread after Serializable: ");
            System.out.println("username: " + user.getUsername());
            System.err.println("password: " + user.getPasswd());
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

class User implements Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 8294180014912103005L; 
    public static String username;
    private transient String passwd;
    public String getUsername() {
        return username;
    }
    public void setUsername(String username) {
        this.username = username;
    }
    public String getPasswd() {
        return passwd;
    }
    public void setPasswd(String passwd) {
        this.passwd = passwd;
    }
}

read before Serializable: 
username: Alexia
password: 123456

read after Serializable: 
username: jmwang
password: null

The article also discusses a subtle case with the Externalizable interface. Even if a field is declared transient , it can be manually written in writeExternal , so the field is serialized and restored, as shown by the printed content “是的，我将会被序列化，不管我是否被transient关键字修饰”.

import java.io.Externalizable;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.ObjectInput;
import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
import java.io.ObjectOutput;
import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;

/**
 * @descripiton Externalizable接口的使用
 *
 * @author Alexia
 * @date 2013-10-15
 */
public class ExternalizableTest implements Externalizable {

    private transient String content = "是的，我将会被序列化，不管我是否被transient关键字修饰";

    @Override
    public void writeExternal(ObjectOutput out) throws IOException {
        out.writeObject(content);
    }

    @Override
    public void readExternal(ObjectInput in) throws IOException,
            ClassNotFoundException {
        content = (String) in.readObject();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        ExternalizableTest et = new ExternalizableTest();
        ObjectOutput out = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(
                new File("test")));
        out.writeObject(et);

        ObjectInput in = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(new File(
                "test")));
        et = (ExternalizableTest) in.readObject();
        System.out.println(et.content);

        out.close();
        in.close();
    }
}

是的，我将会被序列化，不管我是否被transient关键字修饰

Finally, the author invites readers to join a Java study group for further resources.