An array type is written as a non-array-type followed by one or more rank-specifiers:

array-type

non-array-type rank-specifiers

non-array-type

type

rank-specifier

rank-specifier

rank-specifiers rank-specifier

rank-specifier

[ dim-separators_opt ]

dim-separators

,

dim-separators ,

A non-array-type is any type that is not itself an array-type.

The rank of an array type is given by the leftmost rank-specifier in the array-type: A rank-specifier indicates that the array is an array with a rank of one plus the number of "," tokens in the rank-specifier.

The element type of an array type is the type that results from deleting the leftmost rank-specifier:

• An array type of the form T[R] is an array with rank R and a non-array element type T.
• An array type of the form T[R][R1]...[RN] is an array with rank R and an element type T[R1]...[RN].

In effect, the rank-specifiers are read from left to right before the final non-array element type. [Example: The type int[][,,][,] is a single-dimensional array of three-dimensional arrays of two-dimensional arrays of int . end example]

At run-time, a value of an array type can be null or a reference to an instance of that array type.

In This Section:

• 19.1.1: The System.Array type