Getting the class name from a static method in Java

Question

How can one get the name of the class from a static method in that class. For example

public class MyClass {
    public static String getClassName() {
        String name = ????; // what goes here so the string "MyClass" is returned
        return name;
    }
}

To put it in context, I actually want to return the class name as part of a message in an exception.

Answer 1

How about?

 MyClass.class.getName();

Answer 2

If you want the entire package name with it, call:

String name = MyClass.class.getCanonicalName();

If you only want the last element, call:

String name = MyClass.class.getSimpleName();

Answer 3

Do what toolkit says. Do not do anything like this:

return new Object() { }.getClass().getEnclosingClass();

Answer 4

This is what I use to grab a named logger without embedding a classname in each class; it could be used to similar effect in your code. Only works on JVM1.4.2 and later.

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

public class LogService
{
string Logger getLogger(){
Throwable t = new Throwable();
t.fillInStackTrace();
return Logger.getLogger(t.getStackTrace()[1].getClassName());   
}
}

Answer 5

Abuse the SecurityManager

System.getSecurityManager().getClassContext()[0].getName();

Or, if not set, use an inner class that extends it (example below shamefully copied from Real's HowTo):

public static class CurrentClassGetter extends SecurityManager {
    public String getClassName() {
        return getClassContext()[1].getName(); 
    }
}

Answer 6

I use this to init the Log4j Logger at the top of my classes (or annotate).
PRO: Throwable is already loaded and you might save resources by not using the "IO heavy" SecurityManager.
CON: Some question as to whether this will work for all JVMs.
// Log4j . Logger --- Get class name in static context by creating an anonymous Throwable and
// getting the top of its stack-trace.
// NOTE you must use: getClassName() because getClass() just returns StackTraceElement.class
static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(new Throwable() .getStackTrace()[0].getClassName());

Answer 7

This works fine: Thread.currentThread().getStackTrace()[1].getClassName();