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Asked: 2026-05-11T09:31:14+00:00

The Type.MakeByRefType method in .NET returns a by-ref version of a type, e.g. passing

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The Type.MakeByRefType method in .NET returns a by-ref version of a type, e.g. passing the type of System.Int32 returns a type representing System.Int32&.

However, if you already have a System.Int32&, what is the mechanism for obtaining a plain old System.Int32? There doesn’t seem to be an opposite method to remove the by-ref modifier.

At the moment I’ve put a hack in place which re-builds the assembly-qualified name without an & at the end of the type name and then loads that type, but this is horribly dirty…

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  1. According to the docs for IsByRef, you can use Type.GetElementType.

    This is also true for types for which IsArray or IsPointer is true.

    var typeInt = typeof(int); var typeIntRef = typeInt.MakeByRefType(); var typeIntArray = typeInt.MakeArrayType(); var typeIntPointer = typeInt.MakePointerType();  Debug.Assert(typeIntRef.GetElementType() == typeInt); Debug.Assert(typeIntArray.GetElementType() == typeInt); Debug.Assert(typeIntPointer.GetElementType() == typeInt);
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