Question

I want to check if a generic variable is of a certain type but don’t want to check the generic part.

Let’s say I have a variable of List<int> and another of List<double>. I just want to check if it is of type List<>

if(variable is List) {}

And not

if (variable is List<int> || variable is List<double>) {}

is this possible?

Thanks

Answer 1

variable.GetType().IsGenericType && 
            variable.GetType().GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(List<>)

Of course, this only works if variable is of type List<T>, and isn’t a derived class. If you want to check if it’s List<T> or inherited from it, you should traverse the inheritance hierarchy and check the above statement for each base class:

static bool IsList(object obj)
{
    Type t = obj.GetType();
    do {
        if (t.IsGenericType && t.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(List<>))
            return true;
        t = t.BaseType;
    } while (t != null);
    return false;
}