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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-18T23:21:26+00:00

In which case one would use a URLClassLoader to load a class from a

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In which case one would use a URLClassLoader to load a class from a specific jar in a specified path?
E.g. 

URL url = new URL("file:///path/to/customClasses.jar");
URLClassLoader pluginLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[] { url });
Class<?> cl = pluginLoader.loadClass("apackage.MyCustomClass");

If I wanted to use classes from customClasses.jar, I always thought that placing this jar in a path accesible from CLASSPATH is enough.
Then in my code just use apackage.MyCustomClass.
I think I have something missunderstood or missing here, so could someone please explain and give an example of when the above snippet of loading class this way is useful?
Thanks!

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I would say that depending on the type of programming you are doing, the use of the URLClassLoader should be a very rare occurrence.

    Typically you will use the class loader for loading in classes at runtime that you couldn’t anticipate in advance.

    A good example is if you build a tool that can be extended with plugins, and the plugins are loaded at runtime. For example, Eclipse.

    If you have the jar available at compile time and are on a command line, add the needed jar file to your compile statement. For example,

    javac -cp /path/to/lib/customClasses.jar MyClassThatReferencesCustomClasses

    If you’re using Eclipse, add the jar to your project, and right click on it and select add to build path.

    Regards,

    Will

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