What's the difference between calling MyClass.class and MyClass.getClass()

Question

`MyClass.class` and `MyClass.getClass()` both seem to return a `java.lang.Class`. Is there a subtle distinction or can they be used interchangeably? Also, is `MyClass.class` a public property of the superclass `Class` class? (I know this exists but can't seem to find any mention of it in the javadocs)

Accepted Answer

One is an instance method, so it returns the class of the particular object, the other is a Class constant (i.e. known at compile-time).

```
 Class n = Number.class;
 Number o = 1;
 o.getClass() // returns Integer.class
 o = BigDecimal.ZERO;
 o.getClass();  // returns BigDecimal.class
```

Both cases return instances of the Class object, which describes a particular Java class. For the same class, they return the same instance (there is only one Class object for every class).

A third way to get to the Class objects would be

```
Class n = Class.forName("java.lang.Number");
```

Keep in mind that interfaces also have Class objects (such as Number above).

Also, is MyClass.class a public property of the superclass Class class?

It is a language keyword.

What's the difference between calling MyClass.class and MyClass.getClass()

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