Getting name of the class from an instance

Question

I have the following problem: I get an instance of a class passed and want to know the name of the class of this instance. How to get this?

Perhaps reword your question or accept the answer that matches the question? — Jasper Blues
– Jasper Blues, Commented Nov 7, 2013 at 12:33
@JasperBlues: Done, didn't even realize how popular this got! — Robin
– Robin, Commented Nov 7, 2013 at 16:05

CiNN · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-07 17:33:17Z

418

NSStringFromClass([instance class]) should do the trick.

answered Feb 7, 2010 at 17:33

CiNN

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2 Comments

Gleno Over a year ago

Upvoted for answering the question so that googlers can get an answer, instead of anticipating the need.

JP Illanes Over a year ago

Remember to #import <objc/objc-runtime.h> to able to call class on an instance.

kubi · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-07 17:39:53Z

31

if all you want to do is test an object to see if it's a type of a certain Class

BOOL test = [self isKindOfClass:[SomeClass class]];

answered Feb 7, 2010 at 17:39

kubi

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Comments

Katedral Pillon · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-13 05:42:51Z

17

From within the class itself

-(NSString *) className
{
    return NSStringFromClass([self class]);
}

answered Jul 13, 2014 at 5:42

Katedral Pillon

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5 Comments

danh Over a year ago

Absolutely don't want to arouse your anger, but this was the second iOS-related answer in your profile. It seems to me to add only that we can refer to an instance as "self" from within its implementation. Would you defend this as adding substantially to the three-year-old accepted answer?

Katedral Pillon Over a year ago

@danh I see you are hunting me down. Good for you!

danh Over a year ago

Sorry, I just clicked this one, and debated about whether to say anything. Just wanted to do some gentle ribbing, but I know that tempers get hot pretty quickly in these semi-faceless settings. Thanks for being good natured about it. (In fact, +1 for practicing encapsulation).

Nikolai Ruhe Over a year ago

This adds nothing to the answer except trouble.

Bhumit Muchhadia Over a year ago

Should make this a class method

Lal Krishna · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-05 06:14:21Z

6

OBJC:

NSStringFromClass([instance class])

SWIFT

From instance:

String(describing: YourType.self)

From type:

String(describing: self)

answered Dec 5, 2018 at 6:14

Lal Krishna

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Comments

Jeremie D · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-07 16:59:42Z

2

You can also use [[self class] description]

answered Jan 7, 2016 at 16:59

Jeremie D

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Comments

Alper · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-13 10:44:52Z

2

Just add a category:

NSObject+Extensions.h
- (NSString *)className;

NSObject+Extensions.m
- (NSString *)className {
    return NSStringFromClass(self.class);
}

Then use the following code:

NSString *className = [[SomeObject new] className];

or even:

NSString *className = SomeObject.new.className;

To use it anywhere add the category to YourProject.pch file.

edited Nov 13, 2017 at 10:44

Alper

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answered May 21, 2016 at 7:20

ealee

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1 Comment

Alper Over a year ago

If called on a Swift class, this returns a namespaced classname.

pkamb · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-29 00:47:07Z

1

If you are looking how get classname in Swift you can use reflect to get information about object.

let tokens = split(reflect(self).summary, { $0 == "." })
if let typeName = tokens.last {
    println(typeName)
}

edited Jun 29, 2016 at 0:47

pkamb

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answered Feb 8, 2015 at 10:37

Roman Barzyczak

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1 Comment

jbg Over a year ago

or just self.dynamicType

crifan · Accepted Answer · 2023-06-07 10:08:26Z

0

for instance
- NSString* classNameNSStr = [someObjcInstance className]
for class
- NSString* classNameNSStr = NSStringFromClass(someObjcClass)
- const char* className = object_getClassName(someObjcClass)

--> related:

just want compare is some class or not
- -> not need get class name, just need use isKindOfClass:
  - BOOL isSameClass = [someObjcInstance isKindOfClass: SomeClass];
    - SomeClass can get from: objc_getClass("SomeClassName")

answered Jun 7, 2023 at 10:08

crifan

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