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# Class java.lang.Class

    java.lang.Object
       |
       +----java.lang.Class

public final class Class
extends Object

Class objects contain runtime representations of classes. Every object in the system is an instance of some class, and for each class there is one of these descriptor objects. A class descriptor is not modifiable at runtime.

The following example uses a Class object to print the class name of an object:

    	void printClassName(Object obj) {
    	    System.out.println("The class of " + obj +
    			       " is " + obj.getClass().getName());
    	}

Version:
  1.14, 31 Jan 1995

##

forName(String)
  Returns the runtime class descriptor for the specified class.
getClassLoader()
  Returns the class loader of this class.
getInterfaces()
  Returns the interfaces of this class.
getName()
  Returns the name of this class.
getSuperclass()
  Returns the superclass of this class.
isInterface()
  Returns true if this class is an interface, false otherwise.
newInstance()
  Creates an new instance of this class.
toString()
  Returns the name of this class or this interface.

##

forName

      public static Class forName(String className)

  Returns the runtime class descriptor for the specified class. For example the following code fragment returns the runtime class descriptor for the class named java.lang.Thread:

      		Class t = Class.forName("java.lang.Thread")

  Parameters:
    className - the fully qualified name of the desired class
  Returns:
    the class
  Throws: NoClassDefFoundException
    the class could not be found

newInstance

      public Object newInstance()

  Creates an new instance of this class.
  Returns:
    the new instance
  Throws: IncompatibleTypeException
    you can't instanciate interfaces
  Throws: OutOfMemoryException
    out of memory

getName

      public String getName()

  Returns the name of this class.

getSuperclass

      public Class getSuperclass()

  Returns the superclass of this class.

getInterfaces

      public Class getInterfaces()

  Returns the interfaces of this class.
  Returns:
    the interfaces of this class, an array of length 0 is returned if the class implements no interfaces.

getClassLoader

      public ClassLoader getClassLoader()

  Returns the class loader of this class.
  Returns:
    the class loader of this class, null is returned if the class has no class loader.
  See Also:
    ClassLoader

isInterface

      public boolean isInterface()

  Returns true if this class is an interface, false otherwise.
  Returns:
    a boolean indicating whether this class is an interface

toString

      public String toString()

  Returns the name of this class or this interface. The word "class" is prepended if it is a class; the word "interface is is prepended if it is an interface.
  Returns:
    a string representing this class or interface
  Overrides:
    toString in class Object

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