How to get .NET array type from the string "string[]"?

Question

Given the string "string[]" and asked to get the underlying Type for this class, one might start with:

private Type getTypeByName(string typeName)
{
    if (typeName.EndsWith("[]"))
    {
           return something; // But what? 
    }

    return Type.GetType(typeName);
}

What type is "string[]" and how does one reflect the type out of it?

Obviously there's a System.String type and a System.Array type, but I can't see how they can be reflected "together" as you would normally do for Nullable<T> and its T with the MakeGenericType method.

Any help to break the mind-loop I've gotten myself into will be greatly appreciated!

Konrad Rudolph · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-23 12:27:13Z

8

What exactly is your problem? Type.GetType works fine:

Console.WriteLine(typeof(string[]));
var type = Type.GetType("System.String[]");
Console.WriteLine(type);

Prints:

System.String[]
System.String[]

so clearly this works as expected.

answered Nov 23, 2009 at 12:27

Konrad Rudolph

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3 Comments

tags2k Over a year ago

Ah, well that's fair enough. But what if you're given "string[]" as the input instead of "System.String[]"?

Konrad Rudolph Over a year ago

@tags: well, string is a C# keyword, it’s not a CLR/CTS type so you can’t really expect the CLR to know about it. If you absolutely must use it, put all the C# keyword type mappings into a dictionary and use the dictionary to replace those types in your input strings.

tags2k Over a year ago

I see, but I think I'll pass on the keyword dictionary! Thanks for your help.

Mart · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-23 12:33:18Z

4

Use GetElementType() on the type:

string[] eee = new string[1];
Type ttt = eee.GetType().GetElementType();

ttt is of type String.

answered Nov 23, 2009 at 12:33

Mart

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Comments

Fabian Vilers · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-23 12:28:59Z

0

Type.GetType("System.String[]") will returns the string array type. No need to check for [] in your input string.

You can verity this by checking the Type.IsArray prop.

answered Nov 23, 2009 at 12:28

Fabian Vilers

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Henrik · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-23 12:34:00Z

0

The type is System.String[]

answered Nov 23, 2009 at 12:34

Henrik

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