How Can I Determine the Exact Class Type of an Object in Java?

Determining the Type of an Object Instance

Object-oriented programming languages, such as Java, provide the ability to create custom types, known as classes. Objects, which are instances of classes, represent real-world entities and encapsulate both data and methods. When working with objects, it can be essential to determine their specific class type.

Suppose you have a situation where class B and class C extend a common superclass A. You may encounter an object of either type B or C, and you need to identify its exact type. The question arises: how can you differentiate between instances of these classes?

The key to solving this problem lies in the instanceof operator. This operator takes an object and a class as arguments and returns true if the object is an instance of that class or any of its subclasses.

To determine the type of an object in the given scenario, you can use the following approach:

if (obj instanceof ClassC) {
    // Code to handle an object of type ClassC
}

Here, obj represents the object whose type you want to determine, and ClassC is the class you want to check against. If the condition obj instanceof ClassC evaluates to true, it means that obj is an instance of ClassC.

By utilizing the instanceof operator, you can effectively identify the exact class type of an object, enabling you to handle it appropriately in your code.

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