Java Class toString() Method

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Description

The Java Class toString() method converts the object to a string. The string representation is the string "class" or "interface", followed by a space, and then by the fully qualified name of the class in the format returned by getName.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for java.lang.Class.toString() method

public String toString()

Parameters

NA

Return Value

This method returns a string representation of this class object.

Exception

NA

Getting String Representation of a Class Instance Example

The following example shows the usage of java.lang.Class.toString() method. We've created an instance of ClassDemo class and then using getClass() method, we've retrieved the class of the object. Now using toString(), we're getting string representation and the result is printed. We've also printed the class name using getName() method.

package com.tutorialspoint;

public class ClassDemo {

   public static void main(String[] args) {

      ClassDemo c = new ClassDemo();
      Class cls = c.getClass();

      // returns the string representation of this class object
      String str = cls.toString();
      System.out.println("Class = " + str);

      // returns the name of the class
      str = cls.getName();
      System.out.println("Class = " + str);
   }
} 

Output

Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result −

Class = class com.tutorialspoint.ClassDemo
Class = com.tutorialspoint.ClassDemo

Getting String Representation of an ArrayList Example

The following example shows the usage of java.lang.Class.toString() method. We've used class of an ArrayList. Now using toString(), we're getting string representation and the result is printed. We've also printed the class name using getName() method.

package com.tutorialspoint;

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class ClassDemo {

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      Class cls = ArrayList.class;

      // returns the string representation of this class object
      String str = cls.toString();
      System.out.println("Class = " + str);

      // returns the name of the class
      str = cls.getName();
      System.out.println("Class = " + str);
   }
} 

Output

Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result −

Class = class java.util.ArrayList
Class = java.util.ArrayList

Getting String Representation of a Thread Example

The following example shows the usage of java.lang.Class.toString() method. We've used class of an Thread. Now using toString(), we're getting string representation and the result is printed. We've also printed the class name using getName() method.

package com.tutorialspoint;

public class ClassDemo {

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      Class cls = Thread.class;

      // returns the string representation of this class object
      String str = cls.toString();
      System.out.println("Class = " + str);

      // returns the name of the class
      str = cls.getName();
      System.out.println("Class = " + str);
   }
} 

Output

Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result −

Class = class java.lang.Thread
Class = java.lang.Thread