Regular java application running from command line involve three classloaders
Bootstrap Classloader
It is the parent of all the classloaders and loads the standard JDK classes in the lib directory of JRE (rt.jar and i18n.jar). All the “*. java ” classes are loaded by this loader.
Extension Classloader
It is the immediate child of bootstrap classloader. This classloader loads the classes in lib/ext directory of JRE.
System-Classpath Classloader
It is the immediate child of Extension classloader. It loads the classes and jars specified by the CLASSPATH environment variable, java.class.path system property , -cp or -classpath command line settings. If any of the jars specified in one of the above manner have a MANIFEST.MF file with a Class-Path attribute , the jars specified by the Class-Path attribute are also loaded.
The three class loaders have a parent child relationship among themselves
