Print the type of a Java variable

Question

In Java, is it possible to print the type of a variable?

public static void printVariableType(Object theVariable){     //print the type of the variable that is passed as a parameter     //for example, if the variable is a string, print "String" to the console. } 

One approach to this problem would be to use an if-statement for each variable type, but that would seem redundant, so I'm wondering if there's a better way to do this:

if(theVariable instanceof String){     System.out.println("String"); } if(theVariable instanceof Integer){     System.out.println("Integer"); } // this seems redundant and verbose. Is there a more efficient solution (e. g., using reflection?). 

Answer 1

Based on your example it looks like you want to get type of value held by variable, not declared type of variable. So I am assuming that in case of Animal animal = new Cat("Tom"); you want to get Cat not Animal.

To get only name without package part use

String name = theVariable.getClass().getSimpleName(); //to get Cat 

otherwise

String name = theVariable.getClass().getName(); //to get full.package.name.of.Cat 

Answer 2

System.out.println(theVariable.getClass()); 

Read the javadoc.