What is the purpose of the toString method in Java?

The toString method is a method in Java that is used to convert an object into a string representation. This method is typically used to print information about an object or to log the contents of an object.

When an object is passed to the System.out.println method or directly used with the string concatenation operator (+), Java automatically calls the object’s toString method to convert it to a string. By default, the toString method returns the object’s class name and hexadecimal representation of its hash code.

One way to customize the string representation of an object is by overriding the toString method in order to better reflect the object’s content. By overriding the toString method in a class, you can return any information of the object, such as its property values, status, etc. This is very useful for debugging and outputting object information.