How do I get the Array Item Type from Array Type in .net

Thanks to @psaxton comment pointing out the difference between Array and other collections. As an extension method:

public static class TypeHelperExtensions
{
    /// <summary>
    /// If the given <paramref name="type"/> is an array or some other collection
    /// comprised of 0 or more instances of a "subtype", get that type
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="type">the source type</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static Type GetEnumeratedType(this Type type)
    {
        // provided by Array
        var elType = type.GetElementType();
        if (null != elType) return elType;

        // otherwise provided by collection
        var elTypes = type.GetGenericArguments();
        if (elTypes.Length > 0) return elTypes[0];

        // otherwise is not an 'enumerated' type
        return null;
    }
}

Usage:

typeof(Foo).GetEnumeratedType(); // null
typeof(Foo[]).GetEnumeratedType(); // Foo
typeof(List<Foo>).GetEnumeratedType(); // Foo
typeof(ICollection<Foo>).GetEnumeratedType(); // Foo
typeof(IEnumerable<Foo>).GetEnumeratedType(); // Foo

// some other oddities
typeof(HashSet<Foo>).GetEnumeratedType(); // Foo
typeof(Queue<Foo>).GetEnumeratedType(); // Foo
typeof(Stack<Foo>).GetEnumeratedType(); // Foo
typeof(Dictionary<int, Foo>).GetEnumeratedType(); // int
typeof(Dictionary<Foo, int>).GetEnumeratedType(); // Foo, seems to work against key

You can use the instance method Type.GetElementType for this purpose.

Type t2 = t1.GetElementType();

[Returns] the type of the object encompassed or referred to by the current array, pointer, or reference type, or null if the current Type is not an array or a pointer, or is not passed by reference, or represents a generic type or a type parameter in the definition of a generic type or generic method.