Is there a way to output the java data type to the console?

Question

I\'m trying to debug a program I inherited. This program contains Strings, array lists and collections, lots of casting between types, and I need to do some String manipulations

Answer 1

instance.getClass() is the way to go if you just want to print the type. You can also use instanceof if you want to branch the behaviour based on type e.g.

if ( x instanceof String )
{
   // handle string
}