Does Java have something like C#'s ref and out keywords?

No, Java doesn't have something like C#'s ref and out keywords for passing by reference.

You can only pass by value in Java. Even references are passed by value. See Jon Skeet's page about parameter passing in Java for more details.

To do something similar to ref or out you would have to wrap your parameters inside another object and pass that object reference in as a parameter.

Direct answer: No

But you can simulate reference with wrappers.

And do the following:

void changeString( _<String> str ) {
    str.s("def");
}

void testRef() {
     _<String> abc = new _<String>("abc");
     changeString( abc );
     out.println( abc ); // prints def
}

Out

void setString( _<String> ref ) {
    str.s( "def" );
}
void testOut(){
    _<String> abc = _<String>();
    setString( abc );
    out.println(abc); // prints def
}

And basically any other type such as:

_<Integer> one = new <Integer>(1);
addOneTo( one );

out.println( one ); // May print 2

Java passes parameters by value and doesn't have any mechanism to allow pass-by-reference. That means that whenever a parameter is passed, its value is copied into the stack frame handling the call.

The term value as I use it here needs a little clarification. In Java we have two kinds of variables - primitives and objects. A value of a primitive is the primitive itself, and the value of an object is its reference (and not the state of the object being referenced). Therefore, any change to the value inside the method will only change the copy of the value in the stack, and will not be seen by the caller. For example, there isn't any way to implement a real swap method, that receives two references and swaps them (not their content!).