Eclipse: Garbage Collector Button

Question

What happens when I press the \"Run Garbage Collector\" button in Eclipse? Does it just call System.gc()?

Answer 1

Yes, the System.gc() is called!

Very useful in the Eclipse –>Preferences–>General-> Show heap status

then you can see in the lower right corner the "trash can" to run the Garbage Collector. =)

Answer 2

Yes, System.gc() is called when the "Run Garbage Collector" button is pressed.

Answer 3

Yes, it is strictly a call to the JVM, not to an internal Eclipse function (see this thread).

Don't forget the Memory Analyzer to also check paths to garbage collection roots (in a Head Dump) if you suspect some memory leaking in your Eclipse session.

Note: that button is only available if you select the "Show Heap status" in the General section of the Eclipse preferences: