How to implement the Command design pattern in Java?
Jul 09, 2025 am 12:28 AMTo implement the command design pattern, it must first clarify its core composition and implement it step by step. 1. Understand the core components of the command mode: including command interface, specific command classes, receivers, callers and clients; 2. Define command interfaces, usually including execute() method; 3. Create recipient classes that perform actual operations such as Light; 4. Implement specific command classes such as LightOnCommand and LightOffCommand to encapsulate receiver methods; 5. Use callers such as RemoteControl to trigger commands; 6. Create and bind commands and receivers on the client, and execute operations through the caller. This mode implements requested encapsulation, operation decoupling and functional expansion.
Implementing the Command design pattern in Java is a solid way to encapsulate requests as objects, allowing you to parameterize clients with operations, queue or log requests, and support undoable actions. It's especially useful when you want to decouple the object that invokes an operation from the one that knows how to perform it.

Let's walk through how to do this step by step.
1. Understand the core components of the Command pattern
Before writing any code, it helps to understand what parts make up the Command pattern:

- Command – an interface or abstract class that declares an
execute()
method. - Concrete Command – implements the
execute()
method by calling the appropriate method on a Receiver. - Receiver – the actual object that performs the action.
- Invoker – holds a command and calls its
execute()
method when needed. - Client – ??creates the command and sets the receiver.
This structure allows for flexibility, such as queuing commands or adding undo functionality later.
2. Define the Command interface
Start by creating a simple interface that all concrete commands will implement. The most basic version includes just one method: execute()
.

public interface Command { void execute(); }
You can also extend this interface to include things like undo()
, but keep it simple at first.
3. Create a Receiver class
The receiver does the real work. For example, imagine a light switch system. You might have a Light
class like this:
public class Light { public void turnOn() { System.out.println("The light is on"); } public void turnOff() { System.out.println("The light is off"); } }
This is where the actual logic resides — the command will call these methods indirectly.
4. Implement Concrete Command classes
Now create a command that uses the receiver. For turning the light on:
public class LightOnCommand implements Command { private Light light; public LightOnCommand(Light light) { this.light = light; } @Override public void execute() { light.turnOn(); } }
And if you want to support turning it off:
public class LightOffCommand implements Command { private Light light; public LightOffCommand(Light light) { this.light = light; } @Override public void execute() { light.turnOff(); } }
These command objects act as wrappers around the receiver's methods.
5. Use an Invoker to trigger commands
An invoker doesn't know what the command does — it just triggers execution. Here's a simple one:
public class RemoteControl { private Command command; public void setCommand(Command command) { this.command = command; } public void pressButton() { command.execute(); } }
You could expand this to handle multiple buttons or queues, but this gives you the idea.
6. Put it all together in the Client
Finally, wire everything up in your main class or client code:
public class Client { public static void main(String[] args) { // Create the receiver Light light = new Light(); // Create the command and pass the receiver Command lightOn = new LightOnCommand(light); // Create the invoker and set the command RemoteControl remote = new RemoteControl(); remote.setCommand(lightOn); // Trigger the command remote.pressButton(); } }
If you run this, you'll see:
The light is on
Change the command to LightOffCommand
, and pressing the button turns it off instead.
This setup keeps your code modular and makes it easy to add new commands without modifying existing ones. Once you've got the basics down, you can easily extend it to support undo, logging, or macro-style batched commands.
Basically that's it.
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