How to check if variable's type matches Type stored in a variable

Question

User u = new User(); Type t = typeof(User);  u is User -> returns true  u is t -> compilation error 

How do I test if some variable is of some type in this way?

Answer 1

The other answers all contain significant omissions.

The is operator does not check if the runtime type of the operand is exactly the given type; rather, it checks to see if the runtime type is compatible with the given type:

class Animal {} class Tiger : Animal {} ... object x = new Tiger(); bool b1 = x is Tiger; // true bool b2 = x is Animal; // true also! Every tiger is an animal. 

But checking for type identity with reflection checks for identity, not for compatibility

bool b5 = x.GetType() == typeof(Tiger); // true bool b6 = x.GetType() == typeof(Animal); // false! even though x is an animal  or with the type variable bool b7 = t == typeof(Tiger); // true bool b8 = t == typeof(Animal); // false! even though x is an  

If that's not what you want, then you probably want IsAssignableFrom:

bool b9 = typeof(Tiger).IsAssignableFrom(x.GetType()); // true bool b10 = typeof(Animal).IsAssignableFrom(x.GetType()); // true! A variable of type Animal may be assigned a Tiger.  or with the type variable bool b11 = t.IsAssignableFrom(x.GetType()); // true bool b12 = t.IsAssignableFrom(x.GetType()); // true! A  

Answer 2

GetType() exists on every single framework type, because it is defined on the base object type. So, regardless of the type itself, you can use it to return the underlying Type

So, all you need to do is:

u.GetType() == t