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Class File Format

Signatures

A signature is a string representing the type of a method or field.

The field signature represents the value of an argument to a function or the value of a variable. It is a series of bytes in the following grammar:

<field signature>	:=	<field_type>
<field type>	:=	<base_type>|<object_type>|<array_type>

<base_type>	:=	B|C|D|F|I|J|S|Z

<object_type>	:=	L<fullclassname>;

<array_type>	:=	[<optional-size><field_type>

<optional_size>	:=	[0-9]*

The meaning of the base types is as follows:

	B			signed byte
	C			character
	D			double precision floating point number
	F			single precision floating point number
	I			integer
	J			long integer
	L<fullclassname>;			an object of the given class
	S			nsigned short
	Z			boolean
	[<length><field sig>			array

A return-type signature represents the return value from a method. It is a series of bytes in the following grammar:

<return signature>	:=	<field type> | V

The character V indicates that the method returns no value. Otherwise, the signature indicates the type of the return value.

An argument signature represents an argument passed to a method:

<argument signature>	:=	<field type>

A method signature represents the arguments that the method expects, and the value that it returns.

<method_signature>	:=	(<arguments signature>) <return signature>
<arguments signature>	:=	<argument signature>*

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