In Java, which access level applies to a class member when no access modifier…

Concept

Java defines four member-access levels. Three are written with the modifiers public, protected, and private; package-private access is selected by writing no access modifier.

An access level sets the boundary from which a member may be referenced. Package-private access uses the package as that boundary.

Application

The stem explicitly describes a member declared without an access modifier and visible to code in the same package. That declaration therefore has package-private access.

Contrast

• private restricts member access to the declaring top-level class and its nested declarations.

• public permits member access wherever the enclosing type is accessible.

• protected covers the same package and qualifying subclasses outside that package.

• static controls whether a member belongs to the class rather than to individual objects; it is not an access level.

Cross-check

Oracle’s Java access-control table marks “no modifier” as accessible in the class and package, but not from unrelated subclasses outside the package or the world at large. This is the package-private pattern.

Result

The applicable access level is package-private, expressed by omitting an access modifier.