What does classname.class return?

Question

Could anyone please explain what does SomeClassname.class return in JAVA ?? I cant understand what it does ..

Answer 1

It returns the same what Object.getClass() does for a given instance, but you can use it when you know statically what class you want (i.e. at compile time).

From the Javadoc:

Returns the runtime class of this Object.

In short, it gives you an object that represents the class of the (original) object. It's used, amongst other things, by reflection when you want to programatically discover methods and fields in order to invoke/access them.

For example:

        Method m[] = String.class.getDeclaredMethods();         for (int i = 0; i < m.length; i++)         {           System.out.println(m[i].toString());         } 

The Javadoc also refers you to the Java Language Specification - Class Literals (which might be a little heavy reading).

Answer 2

It returns the Class object that represents the specified class name. This is used if you need to get the Class object.

This roughly corresponds to .getClass() which returns the Class object that corresponds to the object instance. You use someclassname.class when you want to work with the Class object and don't have an object instance.