How to check whether an Object is String or String Array in java?

Question

A method is returning a Object or Object[] of type String but if I am casting with String[], it is giving class cast exception when it contains single string. How can i resolve this?

Is there any way to check whether it contains String or String[]?

Answer 1

Sure, use the instanceof operator:

if (x instanceof String) {
  ...
}

if (x instanceof String[]) {
  ...
}

etc. It's not ideal to have to do this, mind you... is there any way you could redesign your API to avoid this?