How to read the value of a private field from a different class in Java?

In order to access private fields, you need to get them from the class's declared fields and then make them accessible:

Field f = obj.getClass().getDeclaredField("stuffIWant"); //NoSuchFieldException
f.setAccessible(true);
Hashtable iWantThis = (Hashtable) f.get(obj); //IllegalAccessException

EDIT: as has been commented by aperkins, both accessing the field, setting it as accessible and retrieving the value can throw Exceptions, although the only checked exceptions you need to be mindful of are commented above.

The NoSuchFieldException would be thrown if you asked for a field by a name which did not correspond to a declared field.

obj.getClass().getDeclaredField("misspelled"); //will throw NoSuchFieldException

The IllegalAccessException would be thrown if the field was not accessible (for example, if it is private and has not been made accessible via missing out the f.setAccessible(true) line.

The RuntimeExceptions which may be thrown are either SecurityExceptions (if the JVM's SecurityManager will not allow you to change a field's accessibility), or IllegalArgumentExceptions, if you try and access the field on an object not of the field's class's type:

f.get("BOB"); //will throw IllegalArgumentException, as String is of the wrong type

Try FieldUtils from apache commons-lang3:

FieldUtils.readField(object, fieldName, true);

Reflection isn't the only way to resolve your issue (which is to access the private functionality/behaviour of a class/component)

An alternative solution is to extract the class from the .jar, decompile it using (say) Jode or Jad, change the field (or add an accessor), and recompile it against the original .jar. Then put the new .class ahead of the .jar in the classpath, or reinsert it in the .jar. (the jar utility allows you to extract and reinsert to an existing .jar)

As noted below, this resolves the wider issue of accessing/changing private state rather than simply accessing/changing a field.

This requires the .jar not to be signed, of course.

One other option that hasn't been mentioned yet: use Groovy. Groovy allows you to access private instance variables as a side effect of the design of the language. Whether or not you have a getter for the field, you can just use

def obj = new IWasDesignedPoorly()
def hashTable = obj.getStuffIWant()

Using the Reflection in Java you can access all the private/public fields and methods of one class to another .But as per the Oracle documentation in the section drawbacks they recommended that :

"Since reflection allows code to perform operations that would be illegal in non-reflective code, such as accessing private fields and methods, the use of reflection can result in unexpected side-effects, which may render code dysfunctional and may destroy portability. Reflective code breaks abstractions and therefore may change behavior with upgrades of the platform"

here is following code snapts to demonstrate basic concepts of Reflection

Reflection1.java

public class Reflection1{

    private int i = 10;

    public void methoda()
    {

        System.out.println("method1");
    }
    public void methodb()
    {

        System.out.println("method2");
    }
    public void methodc()
    {

        System.out.println("method3");
    }

}

Reflection2.java

import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;


public class Reflection2{

    public static void main(String ar[]) throws IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException
    {
        Method[] mthd = Reflection1.class.getMethods(); // for axis the methods 

        Field[] fld = Reflection1.class.getDeclaredFields();  // for axis the fields  

        // Loop for get all the methods in class
        for(Method mthd1:mthd)
        {

            System.out.println("method :"+mthd1.getName());
            System.out.println("parametes :"+mthd1.getReturnType());
        }

        // Loop for get all the Field in class
        for(Field fld1:fld)
        {
            fld1.setAccessible(true);
            System.out.println("field :"+fld1.getName());
            System.out.println("type :"+fld1.getType());
            System.out.println("value :"+fld1.getInt(new Reflaction1()));
        }
    }

}

Hope it will help.