What is the 'instanceof' operator used for in Java?

Question

What is the instanceof operator used for? I\'ve seen stuff like

if (source instanceof Button) {
    //...
} else {
    //...
}

Answer 1

class Test48{
public static void main (String args[]){
Object Obj=new Hello();
//Hello obj=new Hello;
System.out.println(Obj instanceof String);
System.out.println(Obj instanceof Hello);
System.out.println(Obj instanceof Object);
Hello h=null;
System.out.println(h instanceof Hello);
System.out.println(h instanceof Object);
}
}