debugging - What do those strange class names in a java heap dump mean?

Question

I'm trying to track down a memory leak in a java process, using jmap and jhat. Every time I do this I see those weird notation for specific object types, like [S for string arrays and [C for Character arrays. I never remember what means what, and it's very hard to google this stuff.

(EDIT: to prove my point, it turns out that [S is array of short and [C is array of char.)

Anyone care to make a table listing all the different class names and what they mean? Or point me to such table?

Specifically I'd like to know what [Ljava.lang.Object; means.

Answer 1

You'll find the complete list documented under Class.getName():

If this class object represents a reference type that is not an array type then the binary name of the class is returned, as specified by the Java? Language Specification, Second Edition.

If this class object represents a primitive type or void, then the name returned is a String equal to the Java language keyword corresponding to the primitive type or void.

If this class object represents a class of arrays, then the internal form of the name consists of the name of the element type preceded by one or more '[' characters representing the depth of the array nesting. The encoding of element type names is as follows:

Element Type        Encoding
boolean             Z
byte                B
char                C
class or interface  Lclassname;
double              D
float               F
int                 I
long                J
short               S