Here you can find the source of valueOf(Class
public static <T extends Enum<T>> T valueOf(Class<T> cls, String s)
//package com.java2s; /*/*from w ww. j av a 2 s . c om*/ * Copyright 2011 frdfsnlght <frdfsnlght@gmail.com>. * * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. * You may obtain a copy of the License at * * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 * * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and * limitations under the License. */ public class Main { public static <T extends Enum<T>> T valueOf(Class<T> cls, String s) { try { return Enum.valueOf(cls, s); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { } s = s.toLowerCase(); T theOne = null; for (T value : cls.getEnumConstants()) { if (value.toString().toLowerCase().startsWith(s)) { if (theOne == null) theOne = value; else throw new IllegalArgumentException("ambiguous value"); } } return theOne; } }