'Swift: how to return class type from function

I know it is possible to pass class type to a function in swift:

func setGeneric<T>(type: T.Type){ }
setGeneric(Int.self)

But how we can return type from function? Writing something like

func getGeneric<T>() -> T.Type {
   return Int.self
}

gives compiler error "Int is not identical to T". So is it possible to return type from a swift function?

Edit
Some explanation. I have classes that are used for persistence (I'm using Realm) and I have classes that acts as wrappers around this classes. All wrappers inherits from RealmClassWrapper which needs to know what Realm class it actually wraps. So lets say I have this realm model:

class RealmTodo: RLMObject {
   dynamic var title = ""
}

and my wrappers supper class looks like this:

class RealmClassWrapper {
   private let backingModel: RLMObject
   //...
   func backingModelType<T>() -> T.Type{ fatalError("must be implemented") }
}

and actual wrapper:

class Todo: RealmClassWrapper {
   //some other properties
   func backingModelType<T>() -> T.Type{ return RealmTodo.self }
}

Solution 1:^[1]

You can return any type you want.

func getTypeOfInt()  -> Int.Type  { return Int.self  }
func getTypeOfBool() -> Bool.Type { return Bool.self }

If the type is not determined from arguments or if the return is constant, there is no need to introduce a generic T type.

Solution 2:^[2]

It works when I modify your function like this:

func getGeneric<T>(object: T) -> T.Type {
    return T.self
}

getGeneric(0)    // Swift.Int

Solution 3:^[3]

You can force the downcast (as!) as below

func getGeneric<T>() -> T.Type {
  return Int.self as! T.Type
}

But out of the function scope, you need to indicate the returned type:

var t:Int.Type = getGeneric()

Solution 4:^[4]

Yes, this is possible. The problem here is that you say your function returns a generic T.type, but you always return Int.type. Since T is not always an Int, the compiler raises an error.

Solution 5:^[5]

If you don't want to specify the return type you can use AnyClass as it instead of a template parameter.

class A {}

class B {}

public enum ExampleEnum: String {
    case a
    case b
    
    func asClass() -> AnyClass {
        switch self {
        case .a:
            return A.self
        case .b:
            return B.self
        }
    }
}



let myGoal : AnyClass = ExampleEnum.a.asClass()

You can also avoid the final cast to AnyClass, but compiler will show you an error

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
Solution 1	GoZoner
Solution 2	Eric Aya
Solution 3	Forge
Solution 4	Rengers
Solution 5	AntonioWar

'Swift: how to return class type from function

Solution 1:[1]

Solution 2:[2]

Solution 3:[3]

Solution 4:[4]

Solution 5:[5]