How do I solve the problem of passing copy of reference of object, not actual reference, as an argument for a method in Java?

How can actual reference to an object to point null in a method, when we pass the object as an argument to a method? As Java always pass an object as a "copy" of actual reference rather than actual reference to object.
Answer:

Java does not have an "out" kind of parameter. You cannot change the reference used as a parameter, only the object referred to. If you are trying to signal that the object is no longer valid, this is commonly done with a "live" or "valid" boolean field on the object that can be set and tested by other code. Otherwise, you need to assign the return value to the reference you want to change., Eg myreference= MightMakeMeNull(myreference); MightMakeMeNull then returns either my reference or null. Edit: Actually there is one other VERY ugly wy to do this I should mention. You use a reference type and pass that in. eg public class MyReferenceType{ Object obj; public MyReferenceType(Object theActualObject){ set(theActualObject); } public Object get(){ return obj; } public Object set(Object O){ obj = O; } } SomeClass myObject = new SomeClass(); MyReferenceType rt = new MyRefenceType(myObject); FunctionThatMightSetRTToNull(rt); myObject = rt.get(); As I said, this is ugly and an awful lot of work in order to get a side effect, which is generally bad programming to begin with.

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