cannot find symbol / cannot resolve symbol

“cannot find symbol” or “cannot resolve symbol” is the most common error message which the programmers get from the compiler. However this error message may mean that the variable/method/class/object used are not declared/defined properly. In most cases, this happens because:

· The variable/object is not declared or the spelling of variable/object declaration & later use of that variable/object is not same.

· The method is not defined or the spelling of the method definition and method calling is not same or the number and/or type of parameters are wrongly given when calling the method or the method where it is defined is not imported properly (in case of class library methods, the package where the method is defined is not imported)

· If the message is shown for a class, the package of that class might not have been imported or the spelling is wrong.

The solution of that problem is to check the spelling at first, Java programmers see this message most often just because of the wrong spelling( be careful about the case also, as Java is a case sensitive language). If the spelling is correct check whether the required package is imported.

Here is an example of this error :

public class CannotFindSymbol
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int quantity;
Scanner input=new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print(“Enter the quantity: ”);
quntity=imput.nextInteger();
System.out.println(“Your number is ”+quantity);
}
}

In the above code, there are many lines where we will get this error message.

At first it will say Scanner cannot be resolved/found because the package of this class java.util is not imported.

Also problem in ‘quntity’ as the variable is declared as ‘quantity’

Error in ‘imput’ as the object is created as ‘input’

If you correct all the errors it will show error message for nextIntger as the actual method name is nextInt in class Scanner

Now the correct code is:

import java.util.*;
public class CannotFindSymbolSolution
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int quantity;
Scanner input=new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("Enter the quantity: ");
quantity=input.nextInt();
System.out.println("Your number is "+quantity);
}
}