Question

In Java, I’d like to find a way to allow a program to access its own source code, mainly for debugging and metaprogramming purposes (such as printing a method signature at runtime, or allowing a program to read its own comments, or allowing a Java class to print all methods of a certain type, or allowing a program to generate a new version of its own source code, etc).

Is there any way to allow a Java program to access a copy of its own source code, and read it line-by-line?

//this is the first line of the program
//this method is not implemented
public class inspectSourceCode(){
    public static String getLine(int lineNumber){
        //get the line of the program's own source code as a string,
        //this is not currently implemented
    }
    //this method is implemented
    public static void main(String[] args){
        System.out.println(getLine(0));
        //should print "//this is the first line of the program",
        //if the method getLine works correctly
    }
}

Answer 1

You could just directly access the .java file in the code. Just point it to the correct directory and access the file as you would any other.

The program is not running the java file itself, there are compiled files instead that are used at runtime.