How do you use reified types in Kotlin?

To use reified types in Kotlin, you follow these steps:

• Define an inline function: Begin by defining an inline function that requires access to type information using the reified keyword before the type parameter.
• Access type information: Within the body of the inline function, you can access the type information of the reified type parameter using regular Kotlin type operators and reflection APIs.
• Call the function: When calling the inline function, provide the type arguments explicitly, and the Kotlin compiler will substitute the actual types at the call site.

Here’s a simple example demonstrating the usage of reified types in Kotlin:

kotlin

inline fun <reified T> printType() {
 println(T::class.simpleName)
}

fun main() {
 printType<String>() // Output: String
 printType<Int>() // Output: Int
}

In this example, the printType function is an inline function that uses the reified keyword to access the type information of the generic parameter T. Within the function body, T::class allows us to access the KClass object representing the type of T.