For instance, consider the following code:

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

(I have used StringBuilder as a random example of a reference type - there's nothing special about it.) Here, we declare a variable sb, create a new StringBuilder object, and assign to sb a reference to the object. The value of sb is not the object itself, it's the reference. Assignment involving reference types is simple - the value which is assigned is the value of the expression/variable - i.e. the reference.

This is demonstrated further in this example:

StringBuilder first = new StringBuilder();
StringBuilder second = first;

Here we declare a variable first, create a new StringBuilder object, and assign to first a reference to the object. We then assign to second the value of first. This means that they both refer to the same object. They are still, however, independent variables themselves. Changing the value of first will not change the value of second - although while their values are still references to the same object, any changes made to the object through the first variable will be visible through the second variable.

Here's a demonstration of that:

StringBuilder first = new StringBuilder();
StringBuilder second = first;
first.Append ("hello");
first = null;Console.WriteLine (second);

Sample Code

using System;
using System.Text;

public class Example1
{
    public static void Main (string[] args)
    {
        StringBuilder first = new StringBuilder();
        StringBuilder second = first;
        first.Append ("hello");
        first = null;
        Console.WriteLine (second);
    }

}

Output:
hello

Here, we declare a variable first, create a new StringBuilder object, and assign to first a reference to the object. We then assign to second the value of first. We then call the Append method on this object via the reference held in the first variable. After this, we set the first variable to null (a value which doesn't refer to any object). Finally, we print out the results of calling the ToString method on the StringBuilder object via the reference held in the second variable. hello is displayed, demonstrating that even though the value of first has changed, the data within the object it used to refer to hasn't - and second still refers to that object.

Class types, interface types, delegate types and array types are all
reference types.