Create instance of generic type in Java?

Question

Is it possible to create an instance of a generic type in Java? I\'m thinking based on what I\'ve seen that the answer is no (due to type erasure), but

Answer 1

You can achieve this with the following snippet:

import java.lang.reflect.ParameterizedType;

public class SomeContainer {
   E createContents() throws InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException {
      ParameterizedType genericSuperclass = (ParameterizedType)
         getClass().getGenericSuperclass();
      @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
      Class clazz = (Class)
         genericSuperclass.getActualTypeArguments()[0];
      return clazz.newInstance();
   }
   public static void main( String[] args ) throws Throwable {
      SomeContainer< Long > scl = new SomeContainer<>();
      Long l = scl.createContents();
      System.out.println( l );
   }
}