title: Where is .class defined in Java? (Is it a variable or what?)
body: <p>There are 2 ways to get a class's <code>Class</code> object.</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>Statically:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Class cls = Object.class;
  </code></pre></li>
  <li><p>From an instance:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Object ob = new Object();  
  Class cls = ob.getClass();
  </code></pre></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Now my question is <code>getClass()</code> is a method present in the <code>Object</code> class,
  but what is <code>.class</code>? Is it a variable? If so then where is it defined in Java?</p>