How can I enumerate all classes in a package and add them to a List?

The most robust mechanism for listing all classes in a given package is currently ClassGraph, because it handles the widest possible array of classpath specification mechanisms, including the new JPMS module system. (I am the author.)

List<String> classNames;
try (ScanResult scanResult = new ClassGraph().whitelistPackages("my.package")
        .enableClassInfo().scan()) {
    classNames = scanResult.getAllClasses().getNames();
}

****UPDATE 1 (2012)****

OK, I've finally gotten around to cleaning up the code snippet below. I stuck it into it's own github project and even added tests.

https://github.com/ddopson/java-class-enumerator

****UPDATE 2 (2016)****

For an even more robust and feature-rich classpath scanner, see https://github.com/classgraph/classgraph . I'd recommend first reading my code snippet to gain a high level understanding, then using lukehutch's tool for production purposes.

****Original Post (2010)****

Strictly speaking, it isn't possible to list the classes in a package. This is because a package is really nothing more than a namespace (eg com.epicapplications.foo.bar), and any jar-file in the classpath could potentially add classes into a package. Even worse, the classloader will load classes on demand, and part of the classpath might be on the other side of a network connection.

It is possible to solve a more restrictive problem. eg, all classes in a JAR file, or all classes that a JAR file defines within a particular package. This is the more common scenario anyways.

Unfortunately, there isn't any framework code to make this task easy. You have to scan the filesystem in a manner similar to how the ClassLoader would look for class definitions.

There are a lot of samples on the web for class files in plain-old-directories. Most of us these days work with JAR files.

To get things working with JAR files, try this...

private static ArrayList<Class<?>> getClassesForPackage(Package pkg) {
    String pkgname = pkg.getName();
    ArrayList<Class<?>> classes = new ArrayList<Class<?>>();
    // Get a File object for the package
    File directory = null;
    String fullPath;
    String relPath = pkgname.replace('.', '/');
    System.out.println("ClassDiscovery: Package: " + pkgname + " becomes Path:" + relPath);
    URL resource = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader().getResource(relPath);
    System.out.println("ClassDiscovery: Resource = " + resource);
    if (resource == null) {
        throw new RuntimeException("No resource for " + relPath);
    }
    fullPath = resource.getFile();
    System.out.println("ClassDiscovery: FullPath = " + resource);

    try {
        directory = new File(resource.toURI());
    } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
        throw new RuntimeException(pkgname + " (" + resource + ") does not appear to be a valid URL / URI.  Strange, since we got it from the system...", e);
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
        directory = null;
    }
    System.out.println("ClassDiscovery: Directory = " + directory);

    if (directory != null && directory.exists()) {
        // Get the list of the files contained in the package
        String[] files = directory.list();
        for (int i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
            // we are only interested in .class files
            if (files[i].endsWith(".class")) {
                // removes the .class extension
                String className = pkgname + '.' + files[i].substring(0, files[i].length() - 6);
                System.out.println("ClassDiscovery: className = " + className);
                try {
                    classes.add(Class.forName(className));
                } 
                catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                    throw new RuntimeException("ClassNotFoundException loading " + className);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    else {
        try {
            String jarPath = fullPath.replaceFirst("[.]jar[!].*", ".jar").replaceFirst("file:", "");
            JarFile jarFile = new JarFile(jarPath);         
            Enumeration<JarEntry> entries = jarFile.entries();
            while(entries.hasMoreElements()) {
                JarEntry entry = entries.nextElement();
                String entryName = entry.getName();
                if(entryName.startsWith(relPath) && entryName.length() > (relPath.length() + "/".length())) {
                    System.out.println("ClassDiscovery: JarEntry: " + entryName);
                    String className = entryName.replace('/', '.').replace('\\', '.').replace(".class", "");
                    System.out.println("ClassDiscovery: className = " + className);
                    try {
                        classes.add(Class.forName(className));
                    } 
                    catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                        throw new RuntimeException("ClassNotFoundException loading " + className);
                    }
                }
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(pkgname + " (" + directory + ") does not appear to be a valid package", e);
        }
    }
    return classes;
}

I figured out how to do this. Here's the procedure:

  1. Start with a class in the root package, and get the folder it's in from the class loader
  2. Recursively enumerate all .class files in this folder
  3. Convert the file names to fully qualified class names
  4. Use Class.forName() to get the classes

There are a few nasty tricks here that make me a bit uneasy, but it works - for example:

  1. Converting path names to package names using string manipulation
  2. Hard-coding the root package name to enable stripping away the path prefix

Too bad that stackoverflow doesn't allow me to accept my own answer...

Tags:

Java

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