Is there a goto statement in Java?

The Java keyword list specifies the goto keyword, but it is marked as "not used".

It was in the original JVM (see answer by @VitaliiFedorenko), but then removed. It was probably kept as a reserved keyword in case it were to be added to a later version of Java.

If goto was not on the list, and it gets added to the language later on, existing code that used the word goto as an identifier (variable name, method name, etc...) would break. But because goto is a keyword, such code will not even compile in the present, and it remains possible to make it actually do something later on, without breaking existing code.


The keyword exists, but it is not implemented.

The only good reason to use goto that I can think of is this:

for (int i = 0; i < MAX_I; i++) {
    for (int j = 0; j < MAX_J; j++) {
        // do stuff
        goto outsideloops; // to break out of both loops
    }
}
outsideloops:

In Java you can do this like this:

loops:
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_I; i++) {
    for (int j = 0; j < MAX_J; j++) {
        // do stuff
        break loops;
    }
}

James Gosling created the original JVM with support of goto statements, but then he removed this feature as needless. The main reason goto is unnecessary is that usually it can be replaced with more readable statements (like break/continue) or by extracting a piece of code into a method.

Source: James Gosling, Q&A session