In Java, is it possible to know whether a class has already been loaded?

Question

Is it possible to know whether a Java class has been loaded, without attempting to load it? Class.forName attempts to load the class, but I don\'t want

Answer 1

If you're in control of the source of the classes for which you are interested in whether they are loaded or not (which I doubt, but you don't state in your question), then you could register your load in a static initializer.

public class TestLoaded {
    public static boolean loaded = false;
    public static void main(String[] args) throws ClassNotFoundException {
        System.out.println(loaded);
        ClassToTest.reportLoaded();
        System.out.println(loaded);
    }
    static class ClassToTest {
        static {
            System.out.println("Loading");
            TestLoaded.loaded = true;
        }
        static void reportLoaded() {
            System.out.println("Loaded");
        }
    }
}

Output:

false
Loading
Loaded
true