Deleting an object in java?

If you want help an object go away, set its reference to null.

String x = "sadfasdfasd";
// do stuff
x = null;

Setting reference to null will make it more likely that the object will be garbage collected, as long as there are no other references to the object.

Your C++ is showing.

There is no delete in java, and all objects are created on the heap. The JVM has a garbage collector that relies on reference counts.

Once there are no more references to an object, it becomes available for collection by the garbage collector.

myObject = null may not do it; for example:

Foo myObject = new Foo(); // 1 reference
Foo myOtherObject = myObject; // 2 references
myObject = null; // 1 reference

All this does is set the reference myObject to null, it does not affect the object myObject once pointed to except to simply decrement the reference count by 1. Since myOtherObject still refers to that object, it is not yet available to be collected.

You should remove the references to it by assigning null or leaving the block where it was declared. After that, it will be automatically deleted by the garbage collector (not immediately, but eventually).

Example 1:

Object a = new Object();
a = null; // after this, if there is no reference to the object,
          // it will be deleted by the garbage collector

Example 2:

if (something) {
    Object o = new Object(); 
} // as you leave the block, the reference is deleted.
  // Later on, the garbage collector will delete the object itself.

Not something that you are currently looking for, but FYI: you can invoke the garbage collector with the call System.gc()

You don't need to delete objects in java. When there is no reference to an object, it will be collected by the garbage collector automatically.