# Package java.lang.annotation

Provides library support for the Java programming language annotation facility.

See: Description

- Interface Summary
  Interface | Description
  --- | ---
  Annotation | The common interface extended by all annotation types.

- Enum Summary
  Enum | Description
  --- | ---
  ElementType | A program element type.
  RetentionPolicy | Annotation retention policy.

- Exception Summary
  Exception | Description
  --- | ---
  AnnotationTypeMismatchException | Thrown to indicate that a program has attempted to access an element of an annotation whose type has changed after the annotation was compiled (or serialized).
  IncompleteAnnotationException | Thrown to indicate that a program has attempted to access an element of an annotation type that was added to the annotation type definition after the annotation was compiled (or serialized).

- Error Summary
  Error | Description
  --- | ---
  AnnotationFormatError | Thrown when the annotation parser attempts to read an annotation from a class file and determines that the annotation is malformed.

- Annotation Types Summary
  Annotation Type | Description
  --- | ---
  Documented | Indicates that annotations with a type are to be documented by javadoc and similar tools by default.
  Inherited | Indicates that an annotation type is automatically inherited.
  Retention | Indicates how long annotations with the annotated type are to be retained.
  Target | Indicates the kinds of program element to which an annotation type is applicable.

## Package java.lang.annotation Description

Provides library support for the Java programming language annotation facility.

Since:
  1.5

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java SE Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

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