F# Types

This topic describes the types that are used in F# and how F# types are named and described.

Summary of F# Types

Some types are considered primitive types, such as the Boolean type bool and integral and floating point types of various sizes, which include types for bytes and characters. These types are described in Primitive Types.

Other types that are built into the language include tuples, lists, arrays, sequences, records, and discriminated unions. If you have experience with other .NET languages and are learning F#, you should read the topics for each of these types. These F#-specific types support styles of programming that are common to functional programming languages. Many of these types have associated modules in the F# library that support common operations on these types.

The type of a function includes information about the parameter types and return type.

The .NET Framework is the source of object types, interface types, delegate types, and others. You can define your own object types just as you can in any other .NET language.

Also, F# code can define aliases, which are named type abbreviations, that are alternative names for types. You might use type abbreviations when the type might change in the future and you want to avoid changing the code that depends on the type. Or, you might use a type abbreviation as a friendly name for a type that can make code easier to read and understand.

F# provides useful collection types that are designed with functional programming in mind. Using these collection types helps you write code that is more functional in style. For more information, see F# Collection Types.

Syntax for Types

In F# code, you often have to write out the names of types. Every type has a syntactic form, and you use these syntactic forms in type annotations, abstract method declarations, delegate declarations, signatures, and other constructs. Whenever you declare a new program construct in the interpreter, the interpreter prints the name of the construct and the syntax for its type. This syntax might be just an identifier for a user-defined type or a built-in identifier such as for int or string, but for more complex types, the syntax is more complex.

The following table shows aspects of the type syntax for F# types.

Type	Type syntax	Examples
primitive type	type-name	int float string
aggregate type (class, structure, union, record, enum, and so on)	type-name	System.DateTime Color
type abbreviation	type-abbreviation-name	bigint
fully qualified type	namespaces.type-name or modules.type-name or namespaces.modules.type-name	System.IO.StreamWriter
array	type-name[] or type-name array	int[] array<int> int array
two-dimensional array	type-name[,]	int[,] float[,]
three-dimensional array	type-name[,,]	float[,,]
tuple	type-name1 * type-name2 ...	For example, (1,'b',3) has type int * char * int
generic type	type-parameter generic-type-name or generic-type-name<type-parameter-list>	'a list list<'a> Dictionary<'key, 'value>
constructed type (a generic type that has a specific type argument supplied)	type-argument generic-type-name or generic-type-name<type-argument-list>	int option string list int ref option<int> list<string> ref<int> Dictionary<int, string>
function type that has a single parameter	parameter-type1 -> return-type	A function that takes an int and returns a string has type int -> string
function type that has multiple parameters	parameter-type1 -> parameter-type2 -> ... -> return-type	A function that takes an int and a float and returns a string has type int -> float -> string
higher order function as a parameter	(function-type)	List.map has type ('a -> 'b) -> 'a list -> 'b list
delegate	delegate of function-type	delegate of unit -> int
flexible type	#type-name	#System.Windows.Forms.Control #seq<int>

Related Topics

Topic	Description
Primitive Types	Describes built-in simple types such as integral types, the Boolean type, and character types.
Unit Type	Describes the unit type, a type that has one value and that is indicated by (); equivalent to void in C# and Nothing in Visual Basic.
Tuples	Describes the tuple type, a type that consists of associated values of any type grouped in pairs, triples, quadruples, and so on.
Options	Describes the option type, a type that may either have a value or be empty.
Lists	Describes lists, which are ordered, immutable series of elements all of the same type.
Arrays	Describes arrays, which are ordered sets of mutable elements of the same type that occupy a contiguous block of memory and are of fixed size.
Sequences	Describes the sequence type, which represents a logical series of values; individual values are computed only as necessary.
Records	Describes the record type, a small aggregate of named values.
Discriminated Unions	Describes the discriminated union type, a type whose values can be any one of a set of possible types.
Functions	Describes function values.
Classes	Describes the class type, an object type that corresponds to a .NET reference type. Class types can contain members, properties, implemented interfaces, and a base type.
Structs	Describes the struct type, an object type that corresponds to a .NET value type. The struct type usually represents a small aggregate of data.
Interfaces	Describes interface types, which are types that represent a set of members that provide certain functionality but that contain no data. An interface type must be implemented by an object type to be useful.
Delegates	Describes the delegate type, which represents a function as an object.
Enumerations	Describes enumeration types, whose values belong to a set of named values.
Attributes	Describes attributes, which are used to specify metadata for another type.
Exception Types	Describes exceptions, which specify error information.