What is the difference between an object and an object reference in java?

Answer 1

 ● A reference variable points to an actual object , here is nice explantion on it : http://www.hacktrix.com/difference-between-object-and-reference-in-java

Answer 2

https://code.sololearn.com/cqa0MSc4pvDb/?ref=app

Answer 3

An object is an runtime instance of a class in memory(i.e. RAM)

A reference is nothing but a variable that stores the memory address of the object

Consider the following example:

MyClass ref = new MyClass();

In the above statement, the RHS i.e. new MyClass() creates an object and return it's memory; and the reference variable ref stores that address.
You can check what address the reference variable ref stores by the statement System.out.print(ref)