What is the difference between var and val in Kotlin?

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What is the difference between var and val in Kotlin?

I have gone through this link:

KotlinLang: Properties and Fields

As stated on this link:

The full syntax of a read-only property declaration differs from a
mutable one in two ways: it starts with val instead of var and does
not allow a setter.

But just before there is an example which uses a setter.

fun copyAddress(address: Address): Address {
    val result = Address() // there's no 'new' keyword in Kotlin
    result.name = address.name // accessors are called
    result.street = address.street
    // ...
    return result
}

What is the exact difference between var and val?

Why do we need both?

This is not a duplicate of Variables in Kotlin, differences with Java: ‘var’ vs. ‘val’? as I am asking about the doubt related to the particular example in the documentation and not just in general.

41 Answers
41

In your code result is not changing, its var properties are changing. Refer comments below:

fun copyAddress(address: Address): Address {
    val result = Address() // result is read only
    result.name = address.name // but not their properties.
    result.street = address.street
    // ...
    return result
}

val is same as the final modifier in java. As you should probably know that we can not assign to a final variable again but can change its properties.

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