Hi, any is really a powerful class, but sometimes I would also be able to know directly the type stored into it without 'guessing', for example to use it in template code. What I would like to have is something as type_info::real_type for the value hidden into any (not legal C++, maybe legal C++0x ?), or, alternatively, virtual template functions (again not legal C++) to be able to write generic code depending on both hidden value's type and types 'from the outside world' (sorry cannot explain it better :-( than this) I have tried various approaches, but if I 'visit' the any class adding a virtual function to reach hidden value I loose generic type information (lack of virtual template functions) from the outside while from the outside of any I cannot obtain directly the type of the hidden value ... is there a way to do the above ? Gianni Luciani