How to test a value on being AnyVal?

Question

Tried this:

scala> 2.isInstanceOf[AnyVal]
:8: error: type AnyVal cannot be used in a type pattern or isInstanceOf test
              2.isIn         


        

Answer 1

I assume you want to test if something is a primitive value:

def testAnyVal[T](x: T)(implicit evidence: T <:< AnyVal = null) = evidence != null

println(testAnyVal(1))                    // true
println(testAnyVal("Hallo"))              // false
println(testAnyVal(true))                 // true
println(testAnyVal(Boolean.box(true)))    // false

Answer 2

I assume that your type is actually Any or you'd already know whether it was AnyVal or not. Unfortunately, when your type is Any, you have to test all the primitive types separately (I have chosen the variable names here to match the internal JVM designations for the primitive types):

(2: Any) match {
  case u: Unit => println("Unit")
  case z: Boolean => println("Z")
  case b: Byte => println("B")
  case c: Char => println("C")
  case s: Short => println("S")
  case i: Int => println("I")
  case j: Long => println("J")
  case f: Float => println("F")
  case d: Double => println("D")
  case l: AnyRef => println("L")
}

This works, prints I, and does not give an incomplete match error.