What's the Groovy equivalent to Python's dir()?

Question

In Python I can see what methods and fields an object has with:

print dir(my_object)

What's the equivalent of that in Groovy (assuming it has one)?

Answer 1

Looks particulary nice in Groovy (untested, taken from this link so code credit should go there):

// Introspection, know all the details about classes :
// List all constructors of a class
String.constructors.each{println it}

// List all interfaces implemented by a class
String.interfaces.each{println it}

// List all methods offered by a class
String.methods.each{println it}

// Just list the methods names
String.methods.name

// Get the fields of an object (with their values)
d = new Date()
d.properties.each{println it}

The general term you are looking for is introspection .

Answer 2

As described here , to find all methods defined for String object:

 "foo".metaClass.methods*.name.sort().unique()

It's not as simple as Python version, perhaps somebody else can show better way.

Answer 3

Besides just using the normal Java reflection API, there's:

http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GROOVY/JN3535-Reflection

You can also play games with the metaclasses.