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?). 7 Answers
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(); 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 System.out.println(theVariable.getClass()); Read the javadoc.
You can use the ".getClass()" method.
System.out.println(variable.getClass()); variable.getClass().getName(); Returns the runtime class of this Object. The returned Class object is the object that is locked by static synchronized methods of the represented class.
public static void printVariableType(Object theVariable){ System.out.println(theVariable.getClass()) } You can read in the class, and then get it's name.
Class objClass = obj.getClass(); System.out.println("Type: " + objClass.getName()); public static void printVariableType(Object theVariable){ System.out.println(theVariable); System.out.println(theVariable.getClass()); System.out.println(theVariable.getClass().getName());} ex- printVariableType("Stackoverflow"); o/p: class java.lang.String // var.getClass() java.lang.String // var.getClass().getName() 
