Get the name (string) of a generic type in Swift

Question

I have a generic class of type T and I would like to get the name of the type that passed into the class when instantiated. Here is an example.

class MyClass<T> {
    func genericName() -> String {
        // Return the name of T.
    }
}

I have been looking around for hours and I can't seem to find any way to do this. Has anyone tried this yet?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

You can return any types' name by using string interpolation:

class MyClass<T> {
    func genericName() -> String {
        return "\(T.self)"
    }
}

You can try it in a playground and it works as expected:

var someClass = MyClass<String>()
someClass.genericName() // Returns "Swift.String"

Answer 2

String(describing: T.self) in Swift 3+

var genericTypeName: String {
    return String(describing: T.self)
}

Within the generic type, get the name of type T by converting T.self or type(of: T.self) to a String. I found that type(of:) was not necessary but it's worth being aware of since in other cases it removes other details about the Type.

The following example demonstrates getting the name of the generic type T within a struct and a class. It includes code to get the name of the containing type.

Example including class and struct

struct GenericStruct<T> {
    var value: T

    var genericTypeName: String {
        return String(describing: T.self)
    }

    var genericTypeDescription: String {
        return "Generic Type T: '\(genericTypeName)'"
    }

    var typeDescription: String {
        // type(of:) is necessary here to exclude the struct's properties from the string
        return "Type: '\(type(of: self))'"
    }
}

class GenericClass<T> {
    var value: T

    var genericTypeName: String {
        return String(describing: T.self)
    }

    var genericTypeDescription: String {
        return "Generic Type T: '\(genericTypeName)'"
    }

    var typeDescription: String {
        let typeName = String(describing: self)
        return "Type: '\(typeName)'"
    }

    init(value: T) {
        self.value = value
    }
}

enum TestEnum {
    case value1
    case value2
    case value3
}

let intGenericStruct: GenericStruct<Int> = GenericStruct(value: 1)
print(intGenericStruct.typeDescription)
print(intGenericStruct.genericTypeDescription)

let enumGenericStruct: GenericStruct<TestEnum> = GenericStruct(value: .value2)
print(enumGenericStruct.typeDescription)
print(enumGenericStruct.genericTypeDescription)

let intGenericClass: GenericClass<Int> = GenericClass(value: 1)
print(intGenericClass.typeDescription)
print(intGenericClass.genericTypeDescription)

let enumGenericClass: GenericClass<TestEnum> = GenericClass(value: .value2)
print(enumGenericClass.typeDescription)
print(enumGenericClass.genericTypeDescription)

Console Output

/*
Type: 'GenericStruct<Int>'
Generic Type T: 'Int'

Type: 'GenericStruct<TestEnum>'
Generic Type T: 'TestEnum'

Type: 'GenericClass<Swift.Int>'
Generic Type T: 'Int'

Type: 'GenericClass<TestEnum>'
Generic Type T: 'TestEnum'
*/

Answer 3

A pure swift way to achieve that is not possible.

A possible workaround is:

class MyClass<T: AnyObject> {
    func genericName() -> String {
        let fullName: String = NSStringFromClass(T.self)
        let range = fullName.rangeOfString(".", options: .BackwardsSearch)
        if let range = range {
            return fullName.substringFromIndex(range.endIndex)
        } else {
            return fullName
        }
    }
}

The limitations relies on the fact that it works with classes only.

If this is the generic type:

class TestClass {}

NSStringFromClass() returns the full name (including namespace):

// Prints something like "__lldb_expr_186.TestClass" in playground
NSStringFromClass(TestClass.self)

That's why the func searches for the last occurrence of the . character.

Tested as follows:

var x = MyClass<TestClass>()
x.genericName() // Prints "TestClass"

UPDATE Swift 3.0

func genericName() -> String {
    let fullName: String = NSStringFromClass(T.self)
    let range = fullName.range(of: ".")
    if let range = range {
        return fullName.substring(from: range.upperBound)
    }
    return fullName
}