getting type T from IEnumerable<T>

Question

is there a way to retrieve type T from IEnumerable<T> through reflection?

e.g.

i have a variable IEnumerable<Child> info; i want to retrieve Child's type through reflection

Answer 1

IEnumerable<T> myEnumerable; Type type = myEnumerable.GetType().GetGenericArguments()[0];  

Thusly,

IEnumerable<string> strings = new List<string>(); Console.WriteLine(strings.GetType().GetGenericArguments()[0]); 

prints System.String.

See MSDN for Type.GetGenericArguments.

Edit: I believe this will address the concerns in the comments:

// returns an enumeration of T where o : IEnumerable<T> public IEnumerable<Type> GetGenericIEnumerables(object o) {     return o.GetType()             .GetInterfaces()             .Where(t => t.IsGenericType                 && t.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IEnumerable<>))             .Select(t => t.GetGenericArguments()[0]); } 

Some objects implement more than one generic IEnumerable so it is necessary to return an enumeration of them.

Edit: Although, I have to say, it's a terrible idea for a class to implement IEnumerable<T> for more than one T.

Answer 2

I'd just make an extension method. This worked with everything I threw at it.

public static Type GetItemType<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable) {     return typeof(T); }