Question

I need to check a generic object for null, or default(T). But I have a problem… Currently I have done it like this:

if (typeof(T).IsValueType) {   if(default(T).Equals(thing))     // Do something   else     // Do something else } else {   if(thing == null)     // Do something   else     // Do something else } 

But then I end up repeating myself… which I don’t like. The problem is the following:

thing == null; 

Here ReSharper warns about Possible compare of value type with ‘null’.

thing == default(T); 

Here I get compiler error: Cannot apply operator ‘==’ to operands of type ‘T’ and ‘T’.

thing.Equals(null|default(T)); 

thing can obviously be null (that’s why I have to check!), so will cause NullReferenceException.

null|default(T).Equals(thing); 

null and default(T) is very often null as well…

Is there a clean way to do this??

Answer 1

If boxing isn’t an issue, you could just use:

object.Equals(value, default(T))