What is the difference between typeof and the is keyword?

Question

What\'s the exact difference between the two?

// When calling this method with GetByType()

public bool GetByType() {
    // this ret         


        

Answer 1

You should use is AClass on instances and not to compare types:

var myInstance = new AClass();
var isit = myInstance is AClass; //true

is works also with base-classes and interfaces:

MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();

bool isStream = stream is Stream; //true
bool isIDispo = stream is IDisposable; //true

Answer 2

typeof(T) returns a Type instance. and the Type is never equal to AClass

var t1 = typeof(AClass)); // t1 is a "Type" object

var t2 = new AClass(); // t2 is a "AClass" object

t2 is AClass; // true
t1 is AClass; // false, because of t1 is a "Type" instance, not a "AClass" instance

Answer 3

typeof returns a Type object describing T which is not of type AClass hence the is returns false.

Answer 4

The is keyword checks if an object is of a certain type. typeof(T) is of type Type, and not of type AClass.

Check the MSDN for the is keyword and the typeof keyword

Answer 5

• typeof(T) returns a Type object
• Type is not AClass and can never be since Type doesn't derive from AClass

your first statement is right

Answer 6

• first compares the two Type objects (types are themselves object in .net)
• second, if well written (myObj is AClass) check compatibility between two types. if myObj is an instance of a class inheriting from AClass, it will return true.

typeof(T) is AClass returns false because typeof(T) is Type and AClass does not inherit from Type