The following grammar completely specifies all built-in types (including pointer types) of the CLI system. It also shows the syntax for user defined types that can be defined in the CLI system:
| Type ::= | Description | Clause |
|---|---|---|
'!' Int32 |
Generic parameter in a type definition, accessed by index from 0 | §II.9.1 |
| '!!' Int32 |
Generic parameter in a method definition, accessed by index from 0 | §II.9.2 |
| bool |
Boolean | §II.7.2 |
| char |
16-bit Unicode code point | §II.7.2 |
| class TypeReference |
User defined reference type | §II.7.3 |
| float32 |
32-bit floating-point number | §II.7.2 |
| float64 |
64-bit floating-point number | §II.7.2 |
| int8 |
Signed 8-bit integer | §II.7.2 |
| int16 |
Signed 16-bit integer | §II.7.2 |
| int32 |
Signed 32-bit integer | §II.7.2 |
| int64 |
Signed 64-bit integer | §II.7.2 |
| method CallConv Type '*' '(' Parameters ')' |
Method pointer | §II.14.5 |
| native int |
32- or 64-bit signed integer whose size is platform-specific | §II.7.2 |
| native unsigned int |
32- or 64-bit unsigned integer whose size is platform-specific | §II.7.2 |
| object |
See System.Object in Partition IV |
|
| string |
See System.String in Partition IV |
|
| Type '&' |
Managed pointer to Type. Type shall not be a managed pointer type or typedref | §II.14.4 |
| Type '*' |
Unmanaged pointer to Type | §II.14.4 |
| Type '<' GenArgs '>' |
Instantiation of generic type | §II.9.4 |
| Type '[' [ Bound [ ',' Bound ]*] ']' |
Array of Type with optional rank (number of dimensions) and bounds. | §II.14.1 and §II.14.2 |
| Type modopt '(' TypeReference ')' |
Custom modifier that can be ignored by the caller. | §II.7.1.1 |
| Type modreq '(' TypeReference ')' |
Custom modifier that the caller shall understand. | §II.7.1.1 |
| Type pinned |
For local variables only. The garbage collector shall not move the referenced value. | §II.7.1.2 |
| typedref |
Typed reference (i.e., a value of type System.TypedReference), created by mkrefany and used by refanytype or refanyval. |
§II.7.2 |
| valuetype TypeReference |
(Unboxed) user defined value type | §II.13 |
| unsigned int8 |
Unsigned 8-bit integer | §II.7.2 |
| unsigned int16 |
Unsigned 16-bit integer | §II.7.2 |
| unsigned int32 |
Unsigned 32-bit integer | §II.7.2 |
| unsigned int64 |
Unsigned 64-bit integer | §II.7.2 |
| void |
No type. Only allowed as a return type or as part of void * |
§II.7.2 |
In several situations the grammar permits the use of a slightly simpler representation for specifying types; e.g., "System.GC" can be used instead of "class System.GC". Such representations are called type specifications:
| TypeSpec ::= | Clause |
|---|---|
'[' [ .module ] DottedName ']' |
§II.7.3 |
| | TypeReference | §II.7.2 |
| | Type | §II.7.1 |