How to call .class for a class with type parameter? E.g. List<String>.class

Question

To start with an easy example, calling List<String>.class results in compile error, I can just call List.class to achieve my purpose.

Recently, I am doing things related to Spring REST template. I have to input a class object for the getForObject method. I have such a class: Foo<T>.

The result is, I cannot provide Foo<Bar>.class as one of the arguments. Could anyone please help?

Answer 1

You can't do it, because at runtime there are no types, due to type erasure.

When the program executes, there is only List.class - there is no such thing as List<String>.class, just provide a List.class.

If you really need to pass the class of the type, change your method to accept a Class<T> parameter and pass String.class.