Checking if an object is a number in C#

Question

I\'d like to check if an object is a number so that .ToString() would result in a string containing digits and +,-,.

Answer 1

Take advantage of the IsPrimitive property to make a handy extension method:

public static bool IsNumber(this object obj)
{
    if (Equals(obj, null))
    {
        return false;
    }

    Type objType = obj.GetType();
    objType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(objType) ?? objType;

    if (objType.IsPrimitive)
    {
        return objType != typeof(bool) && 
            objType != typeof(char) && 
            objType != typeof(IntPtr) && 
            objType != typeof(UIntPtr);
    }

    return objType == typeof(decimal);
}

EDIT: Fixed as per comments. The generics were removed since .GetType() boxes value types. Also included fix for nullable values.