What is the difference between GameObject.FindObjectOfType and GetComponent

In Unity, it is quite often to get a GameObject's component, such RigidBody or collision2D. There are a couple of ways of doing so, and GameObject.FindObjectOfType<>() ,GetComponent<>() are both frequently used.

GameObject.FindObjectOfType<>()

GameObject.FindObjectOfType<>() will search the entire scene for a component of the specified type. Therefore, which is way slower if we have a large amount of game objects in current scene, but it can be useful in some occasions, such as if you need to access a component that is not attached to the same GameObject as the script. For example:

GameManager gm = GameObject.FindObjectOfType<GameManager>();

Get the current GameManager in current scene.

GetComponent<>()

On the other hand, GetComponent<>() is used to obtain component(s) which attached to the same GameObject that the script is attached to. Therefore it is a much faster method to access a component as it only searches the current GameObject and its children. For example:

Rigidbody2D rb = GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>();

Get the Rigidbody2D of current game object.

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Ref: https://hackingwithunity.com/what-is-the-difference-between-gameobject-findobjectoftype-and-getcomponent/