This "virtual" case class represents the reflection interface for literal expressions which can not be further broken down or evaluated, such as "true", "0", "classOf[List]".
The API of Constant instances.
An extractor class to create and pattern match with syntax Constant(value)
where value is the Scala value of the constant.
The constructor/extractor for Constant instances.
A tag that preserves the identity of the Constant abstract type from erasure.
A tag that preserves the identity of the Constant abstract type from erasure.
Can be used for pattern matching, instance tests, serialization and likes.
Test two objects for inequality.
Test two objects for inequality.
true if !(this == that), false otherwise.
Equivalent to x.hashCode except for boxed numeric types and null.
Equivalent to x.hashCode except for boxed numeric types and null.
For numerics, it returns a hash value which is consistent
with value equality: if two value type instances compare
as true, then ## will produce the same hash value for each
of them.
For null returns a hashcode where null.hashCode throws a
NullPointerException.
a hash value consistent with ==
Test two objects for equality.
Test two objects for equality.
The expression x == that is equivalent to if (x eq null) that eq null else x.equals(that).
true if the receiver object is equivalent to the argument; false otherwise.
Cast the receiver object to be of type T0.
Cast the receiver object to be of type T0.
Note that the success of a cast at runtime is modulo Scala's erasure semantics.
Therefore the expression 1.asInstanceOf[String] will throw a ClassCastException at
runtime, while the expression List(1).asInstanceOf[List[String]] will not.
In the latter example, because the type argument is erased as part of compilation it is
not possible to check whether the contents of the list are of the requested type.
the receiver object.
if the receiver object is not an instance of the erasure of type T0.
Create a copy of the receiver object.
Tests whether the argument (arg0) is a reference to the receiver object (this).
Tests whether the argument (arg0) is a reference to the receiver object (this).
The eq method implements an equivalence relation on
non-null instances of AnyRef, and has three additional properties:
x and y of type AnyRef, multiple invocations of
x.eq(y) consistently returns true or consistently returns false.x of type AnyRef, x.eq(null) and null.eq(x) returns false.null.eq(null) returns true. When overriding the equals or hashCode methods, it is important to ensure that their behavior is
consistent with reference equality. Therefore, if two objects are references to each other (o1 eq o2), they
should be equal to each other (o1 == o2) and they should hash to the same value (o1.hashCode == o2.hashCode).
true if the argument is a reference to the receiver object; false otherwise.
The equality method for reference types.
Called by the garbage collector on the receiver object when there are no more references to the object.
Called by the garbage collector on the receiver object when there are no more references to the object.
The details of when and if the finalize method is invoked, as
well as the interaction between finalize and non-local returns
and exceptions, are all platform dependent.
Returns string formatted according to given format string.
Returns string formatted according to given format string.
Format strings are as for String.format
(@see java.lang.String.format).
A representation that corresponds to the dynamic class of the receiver object.
A representation that corresponds to the dynamic class of the receiver object.
The nature of the representation is platform dependent.
a representation that corresponds to the dynamic class of the receiver object.
not specified by SLS as a member of AnyRef
The hashCode method for reference types.
Test whether the dynamic type of the receiver object is T0.
Test whether the dynamic type of the receiver object is T0.
Note that the result of the test is modulo Scala's erasure semantics.
Therefore the expression 1.isInstanceOf[String] will return false, while the
expression List(1).isInstanceOf[List[String]] will return true.
In the latter example, because the type argument is erased as part of compilation it is
not possible to check whether the contents of the list are of the specified type.
true if the receiver object is an instance of erasure of type T0; false otherwise.
Equivalent to !(this eq that).
Equivalent to !(this eq that).
true if the argument is not a reference to the receiver object; false otherwise.
Wakes up a single thread that is waiting on the receiver object's monitor.
Wakes up a single thread that is waiting on the receiver object's monitor.
not specified by SLS as a member of AnyRef
Wakes up all threads that are waiting on the receiver object's monitor.
Wakes up all threads that are waiting on the receiver object's monitor.
not specified by SLS as a member of AnyRef
Creates a String representation of this object.
Creates a String representation of this object. The default representation is platform dependent. On the java platform it is the concatenation of the class name, "@", and the object's hashcode in hexadecimal.
a String representation of the object.
(constants: StringAdd).self
(constants: StringFormat).self
(constants: ArrowAssoc[Constants]).x
(Since version 2.10.0) Use leftOfArrow instead
(constants: Ensuring[Constants]).x
(Since version 2.10.0) Use resultOfEnsuring instead
The methods available for each reflection entity, without the implementation. Since the reflection entities are later overridden by runtime reflection and macros, their API counterparts guarantee a minimum set of methods that are implemented.
Extractors provide the machinery necessary to allow pattern matching and construction of reflection entities that is similar to case classes, although the entities are only abstract types that are later overridden.
Implicit values that provide ClassTags for the reflection
classes. These are abstract in the interface but are later filled in to provide ClassTags
for the either the runtime reflection or macros entities, depending on the use.
EXPERIMENTAL
According to the section 6.24 "Constant Expressions" of the Scala language specification, certain expressions (dubbed constant expressions) can be evaluated by the Scala compiler at compile-time.
scala.reflect.api.Constants#Constant instances represent certain kinds of these expressions (with values stored in the
valuefield and its strongly-typed views namedbooleanValue,intValueetc.), namely:Such constants are used to represent literals in abstract syntax trees (the scala.reflect.api.Trees#Literal node) and literal arguments for Java class file annotations (the scala.reflect.api.Annotations#LiteralArgument class).
Example
The
valuefield deserves some explanation. Primitive and string values are represented as themselves, whereas references to classes and enums are a bit roundabout.Class references are represented as instances of scala.reflect.api.Types#Type (because when the Scala compiler processes a class reference, the underlying runtime class might not yet have been compiled). To convert such a reference to a runtime class, one should use the
runtimeClassmethod of a mirror such as scala.reflect.api.Mirrors#RuntimeMirror (the simplest way to get such a mirror is using scala.reflect.runtime.package#currentMirror).Enumeration value references are represented as instances of scala.reflect.api.Symbols#Symbol, which on JVM point to methods that return underlying enum values. To inspect an underlying enumeration or to get runtime value of a reference to an enum, one should use a scala.reflect.api.Mirrors#RuntimeMirror (the simplest way to get such a mirror is again scala.reflect.runtime.package#currentMirror).
enum JavaSimpleEnumeration { FOO, BAR } import java.lang.annotation.*; @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME) @Target({ElementType.TYPE}) public @interface JavaSimpleAnnotation { Class<?> classRef(); JavaSimpleEnumeration enumRef(); } @JavaSimpleAnnotation( classRef = JavaAnnottee.class, enumRef = JavaSimpleEnumeration.BAR ) public class JavaAnnottee {}