protected void finalize() throws Throwable {} every class inherits the finalize() method from java.lang.Object the method is called by the garbage collector when it determines no more references to the object exist the Object finalize method performs no actions but it may be overridden by any class normally it should be overridden to clean-up non-Java resources ie closing a file if overridding finalize() it is good programming practice to use a try-catch-finally statement and to always call super.finalize(). This is a safety measure to ensure you do not inadvertently miss closing a resource used by the objects calling class protected void finalize() throws Throwable { try { close(); // close open files } finally { super.finalize(); } } any exception thrown by finalize() during garbage collection halts the finalization but is otherwise ignored finalize() is never run more than once on any object

引用自:http://www.janeg.ca/scjp/gc/finalize.html

你也可以看看这篇文章:

对象终结和清理

最终确定方法是不保证的。当对象符合GC条件时调用此方法。在许多情况下，对象可能不会被垃圾收集。

由于JVM调用finalize()方法存在不确定性(不确定被重写的finalize()是否会被执行)，为了研究目的，观察finalize()调用时发生的情况的更好方法是通过命令System.gc()强制JVM调用垃圾收集。

具体来说，finalize()在对象不再使用时被调用。但是当我们试图通过创建新对象来调用它时，它的调用是不确定的。因此，为了确定起见，我们创建了一个空对象c，它显然没有未来的用途，因此我们看到对象c的finalize调用。

例子

class Car {

    int maxspeed;

    Car() {
        maxspeed = 70;
    }

    protected void finalize() {

    // Originally finalize method does nothing, but here we override finalize() saying it to print some stmt
    // Calling of finalize is uncertain. Difficult to observe so we force JVM to call it by System.gc(); GarbageCollection

        System.out.println("Called finalize method in class Car...");
    }
}

class Bike {

    int maxspeed;

    Bike() {
        maxspeed = 50;
    }

    protected void finalize() {
        System.out.println("Called finalize method in class Bike...");
    }
}

class Example {

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        Car c = new Car();
        c = null;    // if c weren`t null JVM wouldn't be certain it's cleared or not, null means has no future use or no longer in use hence clears it
        Bike b = new Bike();
        System.gc();    // should clear c, but not b
        for (b.maxspeed = 1; b.maxspeed <= 70; b.maxspeed++) {
            System.out.print("\t" + b.maxspeed);
            if (b.maxspeed > 50) {
                System.out.println("Over Speed. Pls slow down.");
            }
        }
    }
}

输出

    Called finalize method in class Car...
            1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8       9
    10      11      12      13      14      15      16      17      18      19
    20      21      22      23      24      25      26      27      28      29
    30      31      32      33      34      35      36      37      38      39
    40      41      42      43      44      45      46      47      48      49
    50      51Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            52Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            53Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            54Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            55Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            56Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            57Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            58Over Speed. Pls slow down. 
            59Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            60Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            61Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            62Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            63Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            64Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            65Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            66Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            67Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            68Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            69Over Speed. Pls slow down.
            70Over Speed. Pls slow down.

注意:即使打印到70，并且在此之后对象b在程序中没有被使用，也不确定b是否被JVM清除，因为“调用的finalize方法在类Bike…”没有打印。

一般来说，最好不要依赖finalize()来做任何清理等。

根据Javadoc(值得一读)，它是:

当垃圾回收确定对象不再有引用时，由垃圾回收器在对象上调用。

正如Joachim指出的，如果对象总是可访问的，那么在程序的生命周期中，这可能永远不会发生。

此外，垃圾收集器不保证在任何特定时间运行。一般来说，我想说的是finalize()可能不是最好的方法，除非有特定的事情需要它。

Finalize将打印出类创建的计数。

protected void finalize() throws Throwable {
    System.out.println("Run F" );
    if ( checkedOut)
        System.out.println("Error: Checked out");
        System.out.println("Class Create Count: " + classCreate);
}

main

while ( true) {
    Book novel=new Book(true);
    //System.out.println(novel.checkedOut);
    //Runtime.getRuntime().runFinalization();
    novel.checkIn();
    new Book(true);
    //System.runFinalization();
    System.gc();

如你所见。下面的输出显示了类计数为36时第一次执行的gc。

C:\javaCode\firstClass>java TerminationCondition
Run F
Error: Checked out
Class Create Count: 36
Run F
Error: Checked out
Class Create Count: 48
Run F

在最近与终结器方法搏斗之后(为了在测试期间处理连接池)，我不得不说终结器缺少很多东西。使用VisualVM来观察以及使用弱引用来跟踪实际的交互，我发现以下事情在Java 8环境中是正确的(Oracle JDK, Ubuntu 15):

Finalize is not called immediately the Finalizer (GC part) individually owns the reference elusively The default Garbage Collector pools unreachable objects Finalize is called in bulk pointing to an implementation detail that there is a certain phase the garbage collector frees the resources. Calling System.gc() often does not result in objects being finalized more often, it just results in the Finalizer getting aware of an unreachable object more rapidly Creating a thread dump almost always result in triggering the finalizer due to high heap overhead during performing the heap dump or some other internal mechanism Finalization seams to be bound by either memory requirements (free up more memory) or by the list of objects being marked for finalization growing of a certain internal limit. So if you have a lot of objects getting finalized the finalization phase will be triggered more often and earlier when compared with only a few There were circumstances a System.gc() triggered a finalize directly but only if the reference was a local and short living. This might be generation related.

最后认为

最后确定方法是不可靠的，但只能用于一件事。您可以确保在垃圾收集之前关闭或释放对象，从而在正确处理涉及生命结束操作的更复杂生命周期的对象时实现故障安全。这是我能想到的一个值得我们去推翻它的原因。