strings and gc

[Sasikanth Malladi]

At what stage in the following method does the object initially referenced by s becomes available for garbage collection. Select the one correct answer.
void method X() {
String r = new String("abc");
String s = new String("abc");
r = r+1; //1
r = null; //2
s = s + r; //3
} //4


A.Before statement labeled 1
B.Before statement labeled 2
C.Before statement labeled 3
D.Before statement labeled 4
E.Never.
The answer is D. How?
(Question from the mock exam on javaprepare.
Thanks,
Shashi

[Cindy Glass]

s is a variable local to method(). When it is over s goes out of scope and is dead on the heap.