Get class name of UIViewController in swift

Question

How do you get the class name of a UIViewController class in Swift?

In Objective-C, we can do something like this:

self.appDelegate = (shAppDelegate *)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
    UIViewController *last_screen = self.appDelegate.popScreens.lastObject ;
    
    if(last_screen.class != self.navigationController.visibleViewController.class){

    //.......
}

but in Swift I tried:

let appDelegate = UIApplication.sharedApplication().delegate as AppDelegate
    let last_screen = appDelegate.popScreens?.lastObject as UIViewController

Can't do this.

if last_screen.class != self.navigationController.visibleViewController.class {

//....

}

no class method of UIViewController i.e last screen

score 76 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 19 '15 at 20:36

76

To know your class name you can call something like this:

var className = NSStringFromClass(yourClass.classForCoder)

answered Feb 19 '15 at 20:36

juangdelvalle

798
6
8

It returns `.` but in most cases users need the second part only – Gargo Feb 21 '23 at 06:40

score 62 · Answer 2 · answered May 01 '18 at 05:06

62

The cleanest way without needing to know the name of your class is like this.

let name = String(describing: type(of: self))

answered May 01 '18 at 05:06

cnotethegr8

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prabhu · Answer 3 · 2019-02-19T16:56:15.950

44

A simple way in swift 3 is to write the below code:

for instances:

let className = String(describing: self)

for classes:

let className = String(describing: YourViewController.self)

edited Feb 19 '19 at 16:56

answered Nov 24 '17 at 07:10

prabhu

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Note e.g. `String(describing: UIViewController())` will output `` for example, whereas `String(describing: type(of: UIViewController()))` will just output `UIViewController` – shim Apr 21 '22 at 03:41

score 20 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 06 '20 at 16:06

20

Expanding on juangdelvalle's answer.

I added this as an extension so that it's reusable and easier to call from any view controller. Also in some cases NSStringFromClass in Swift returns a string in the format like this:

< project name >.viewControllerClassName.

This extension property is modified to get rid of the project name prefix and return only the class name.

extension UIViewController {
    var className: String {
        NSStringFromClass(self.classForCoder).components(separatedBy: ".").last!
    }
}

edited Oct 06 '20 at 16:06

Michal Šrůtek

1,647
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17

answered May 20 '15 at 08:44

Isuru

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when you say "in some cases" do you mean it doesn't return a consistent answer? – Craig.Pearce Oct 22 '16 at 03:03
Actually the first part before the dot is the module name. So if your class is defined in an external library you will see the module name. The last part however should be the real class name. That is unless Apple decide to change this function for some reason. – Dunbar Nov 25 '19 at 16:26
why not simply use? ``` let viewControllerName = "\(viewControllerInstance.classForCoder())" ``` – Noor Feb 11 '21 at 11:21

score 8 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 29 '18 at 19:13

8

Swift 4

Suppose we have class with name HomeViewController. Then you can get name of class with the following code:

let class_name = "\(HomeViewController.classForCoder())"

The classForCoder() method returns AnyClass object (name of your class) which we convert to string for user.

edited Oct 29 '18 at 19:13

koen

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answered Jun 29 '18 at 08:38

Naresh

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score 7 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 09 '17 at 00:39

7

Here is a swift3 version of isuru's answer.

extension UIViewController {
    var className: String {
        return NSStringFromClass(self.classForCoder).components(separatedBy: ".").last!;
    }
}

answered Feb 09 '17 at 00:39

zingle-dingle

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2

There's an extra ';' in the end. – alasker Mar 31 '17 at 13:03
2

:) @alasker . guess I'm not a swift developer at heart. – zingle-dingle Jan 10 '19 at 07:01

score 5 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 02 '21 at 11:54

Swift 5 solution:

extension NSObject {
  var className: String {
    return String(describing: type(of: self))
  }

  class var className: String {
    return String(describing: self)
  }
}

USAGE:

class TextFieldCell: UITableVIewCell {
}

class LoginViewController: UIViewController {
  let cellClassName = TextFieldCell.className
}

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 29 '18 at 07:26

2

Use String.init(describing: self.classForCoder)

example:

let viewControllerName = String.init(describing: self.classForCoder)
print("ViewController Name: \(viewControllerName)")

answered Jun 29 '18 at 07:26

Zahidur Rahman Faisal

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered May 25 '22 at 14:24

2

We can also do: String(describing: Self.self) in Swift 5.1.

answered May 25 '22 at 14:24

Pranav Kasetti

8,770
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score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 15 '14 at 04:27

1

The property is called dynamicType in Swift.

answered Oct 15 '14 at 04:27

fluidsonic

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Note: this property was deprecated a while ago and is fully phased out in the latest Swift at least – shim Apr 21 '22 at 03:44

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 18 '19 at 00:11

How about:

    extension NSObject {

    static var stringFromType: String? {
        return NSStringFromClass(self).components(separatedBy: ".").last
    }

    var stringFromInstance: String? {
        return NSStringFromClass(type(of: self)).components(separatedBy: ".").last
    }
}

Get class name of UIViewController in swift

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