Question

new List<int>().GetType().Name is List`1. How do I get a name more like List<int> (not List<T>)?

Answer 1

One way would be using new List<int>().GetType().ToString(), which returns System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.Int32].

Or you could write yourself a small helper method along the lines of:

string GetShortName(Type type)
{
    string result = type.Name;
    if (type.IsGenericType)
    {
        // remove genric indication (e.g. `1)
        result = result.Substring(0, result.LastIndexOf('`'));

        result = string.Format(
            "{0}<{1}>",
            result,
            string.Join(", ",
                        type.GetGenericArguments().Select(t => GetShortName(t))));
    }

    return result;
}

which outputs strings like:

List<Int32>
List<T>
Dictionary<List<Double>, Int32>
Tuple<T1, T2, T3, T4>

Note that for nested types, this would return only the innermost name.