Type.GetElementType Method

Definition

Namespace:

System

Assembly:

System.Runtime.dll

Source:

Type.cs

When overridden in a derived class, returns the Type of the object encompassed or referred to by the current array, pointer or reference type.

public:
 abstract Type ^ GetElementType();

public abstract Type? GetElementType ();

abstract member GetElementType : unit -> Type

Public MustOverride Function GetElementType () As Type

Returns

Type

The Type of the object encompassed or referred to by the current array, pointer, or reference type, or null if the current Type is not an array or a pointer, or is not passed by reference, or represents a generic type or a type parameter in the definition of a generic type or generic method.

Examples

The following example demonstrates using the GetElementType method.

using namespace System;
public ref class TestGetElementType{};

int main()
{
   array<Int32>^array = {1,2,3};
   Type^ t = array->GetType();
   Type^ t2 = t->GetElementType();
   Console::WriteLine( "The element type of {0} is {1}.", array, t2 );
   TestGetElementType^ newMe = gcnew TestGetElementType;
   t = newMe->GetType();
   t2 = t->GetElementType();
   Console::WriteLine( "The element type of {0} is {1}.", newMe, t2 == nullptr ? "null" : t2->ToString() );
}

/* This code produces the following output:

The element type of System.Int32[] is System.Int32.
The element type of TestGetElementType is null.
 */

using System;
class TestGetElementType
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        int[] array = {1,2,3};
        Type t = array.GetType();
        Type t2 = t.GetElementType();
        Console.WriteLine("The element type of {0} is {1}.",array, t2.ToString());
        TestGetElementType newMe = new TestGetElementType();
        t = newMe.GetType();
        t2 = t.GetElementType();
        Console.WriteLine("The element type of {0} is {1}.", newMe, t2==null? "null" : t2.ToString());
    }
}

/* This code produces the following output:

The element type of System.Int32[] is System.Int32.
The element type of TestGetElementType is null.
 */

type TestGetElementType() = class end
do
    let array = [| 1; 2; 3 |]
    let t = array.GetType()
    let t2 = t.GetElementType()
    printfn $"The element type of {array} is {t2}."
    
    let newMe = TestGetElementType()
    let t = newMe.GetType()
    let t2 = t.GetElementType()
    printfn $"""The element type of {newMe} is {if t2 = null then "null" else string t2}."""

(* This code produces the following output:

The element type of System.Int32[] is System.Int32.
The element type of TestGetElementType is null.
 *)

Class TestGetElementType

    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Dim array As Integer() = {1, 2, 3}
        Dim t As Type = array.GetType()
        Dim t2 As Type = t.GetElementType()
        Console.WriteLine("The element type of {0} is {1}.", array, t2.ToString())
        Dim newMe As New TestGetElementType()
        t = newMe.GetType()
        t2 = t.GetElementType()
        If t2 Is Nothing Then
            Console.WriteLine("The element type of {0} is {1}.", newMe, "null")
        Else
            Console.WriteLine("The element type of {0} is {1}.", newMe, t2.ToString())
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

' This code produces the following output:
'
'The element type of System.Int32[] is System.Int32.
'The element type of TestGetElementType is null.

Remarks

This method returns null for the Array class.

See also

• HasElementType