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

juangdelvalle · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-19 20:36:34Z

81

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

var className = NSStringFromClass(yourClass.classForCoder)

answered Feb 19, 2015 at 20:36

juangdelvalle

8487 silver badges8 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Gargo Over a year ago

It returns <project_name>.<class_name> but in most cases users need the second part only

cnotethegr8 · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-01 05:06:09Z

68

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

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

answered May 1, 2018 at 5:06

cnotethegr8

7,5608 gold badges71 silver badges105 bronze badges

Comments

prabhu · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-19 16:56:15Z

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, 2019 at 16:56

answered Nov 24, 2017 at 7:10

prabhu

1,2161 gold badge14 silver badges29 bronze badges

1 Comment

shim Over a year ago

Note e.g. String(describing: UIViewController()) will output <UIViewController: 0x141d0f7e0> for example, whereas String(describing: type(of: UIViewController())) will just output UIViewController

Michal Šrůtek · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-06 16:06:30Z

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 6, 2020 at 16:06

Michal Šrůtek

2,4892 gold badges25 silver badges25 bronze badges

answered May 20, 2015 at 8:44

Isuru

31.4k63 gold badges195 silver badges317 bronze badges

3 Comments

Craig.Pearce Over a year ago

when you say "in some cases" do you mean it doesn't return a consistent answer?

Dunbar Over a year ago

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.

Noor Over a year ago

why not simply use? ``` let viewControllerName = "(viewControllerInstance.classForCoder())" ```

koen · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-29 19:13:39Z

9

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, 2018 at 19:13

koen

5,8627 gold badges60 silver badges104 bronze badges

answered Jun 29, 2018 at 8:38

Naresh

1,0059 silver badges20 bronze badges

Comments

zingle-dingle · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-09 00:39:57Z

7

Here is a swift3 version of isuru's answer.

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

answered Feb 9, 2017 at 0:39

zingle-dingle

1,71116 silver badges17 bronze badges

2 Comments

alasker Over a year ago

There's an extra ';' in the end.

zingle-dingle Over a year ago

:) @alasker . guess I'm not a swift developer at heart.

DEEPAK KUMAR · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-02 11:54:54Z

6

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
}

answered Aug 2, 2021 at 11:54

DEEPAK KUMAR

3614 silver badges9 bronze badges

Comments

Pranav Kasetti · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-25 14:24:08Z

3

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

answered May 25, 2022 at 14:24

Pranav Kasetti

10.1k4 gold badges59 silver badges88 bronze badges

Comments

Zahidur Rahman Faisal · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-29 07:26:11Z

2

Use String.init(describing: self.classForCoder)

example:

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

answered Jun 29, 2018 at 7:26

Zahidur Rahman Faisal

72710 silver badges11 bronze badges

Comments

fluidsonic · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-15 04:27:26Z

1

The property is called dynamicType in Swift.

answered Oct 15, 2014 at 4:27

fluidsonic

4,7272 gold badges26 silver badges35 bronze badges

1 Comment

shim Over a year ago

Note: this property was deprecated a while ago and is fully phased out in the latest Swift at least

SmileBot · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-18 00:11:45Z

1

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
    }
}

answered Sep 18, 2019 at 0:11

SmileBot

19.7k8 gold badges70 silver badges62 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Get class name of UIViewController in swift

11 Answers 11

1 Comment

Comments

1 Comment

3 Comments

Comments

2 Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Comments

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

11 Answers 11

1 Comment

Comments

1 Comment

3 Comments

Comments

2 Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Comments

Linked

Related