C# - String Formatting Cheat Sheet.md

C# String Formatting Cheat Sheet

Format Specifiers

The snippet below examplifies how format specifiers can be used when handling strings.

using System;
class Sample 
{
    enum Color {Yellow = 1, Blue, Green};
    static DateTime thisDate = DateTime.Now;

    public static void Main() 
    {
        Console.Clear();

        // Format a negative integer or floating-point number in various ways.
        Console.WriteLine("Standard Numeric Format Specifiers");
        Console.WriteLine(
            "(C) Currency: . . . . . . . . {0:C}\n" +
            "(D) Decimal:. . . . . . . . . {0:D}\n" +
            "(E) Scientific: . . . . . . . {1:E}\n" +
            "(F) Fixed point:. . . . . . . {1:F}\n" +
            "(G) General:. . . . . . . . . {0:G}\n" +
            "    (default):. . . . . . . . {0} (default = 'G')\n" +
            "(N) Number: . . . . . . . . . {0:N}\n" +
            "(P) Percent:. . . . . . . . . {1:P}\n" +
            "(R) Round-trip: . . . . . . . {1:R}\n" +
            "(X) Hexadecimal:. . . . . . . {0:X}\n",
            -123, -123.45f); 

        // Format the current date in various ways.
        Console.WriteLine("Standard DateTime Format Specifiers");
        Console.WriteLine(
            "(d) Short date: . . . . . . . {0:d}\n" +
            "(D) Long date:. . . . . . . . {0:D}\n" +
            "(t) Short time: . . . . . . . {0:t}\n" +
            "(T) Long time:. . . . . . . . {0:T}\n" +
            "(f) Full date/short time: . . {0:f}\n" +
            "(F) Full date/long time:. . . {0:F}\n" +
            "(g) General date/short time:. {0:g}\n" +
            "(G) General date/long time: . {0:G}\n" +
            "    (default):. . . . . . . . {0} (default = 'G')\n" +
            "(M) Month:. . . . . . . . . . {0:M}\n" +
            "(R) RFC1123:. . . . . . . . . {0:R}\n" +
            "(s) Sortable: . . . . . . . . {0:s}\n" +
            "(u) Universal sortable: . . . {0:u} (invariant)\n" +
            "(U) Universal full date/time: {0:U}\n" +
            "(Y) Year: . . . . . . . . . . {0:Y}\n", 
            thisDate);

        // Format a Color enumeration value in various ways.
        Console.WriteLine("Standard Enumeration Format Specifiers");
        Console.WriteLine(
            "(G) General:. . . . . . . . . {0:G}\n" +
            "    (default):. . . . . . . . {0} (default = 'G')\n" +
            "(F) Flags:. . . . . . . . . . {0:F} (flags or integer)\n" +
            "(D) Decimal number: . . . . . {0:D}\n" +
            "(X) Hexadecimal:. . . . . . . {0:X}\n", 
            Color.Green);       
    }
}

/*
This code example produces the following results:

Standard Numeric Format Specifiers
(C) Currency: . . . . . . . . ($123.00)
(D) Decimal:. . . . . . . . . -123
(E) Scientific: . . . . . . . -1.234500E+002
(F) Fixed point:. . . . . . . -123.45
(G) General:. . . . . . . . . -123
    (default):. . . . . . . . -123 (default = 'G')
(N) Number: . . . . . . . . . -123.00
(P) Percent:. . . . . . . . . -12,345.00 %
(R) Round-trip: . . . . . . . -123.45
(X) Hexadecimal:. . . . . . . FFFFFF85

Standard DateTime Format Specifiers
(d) Short date: . . . . . . . 6/26/2004
(D) Long date:. . . . . . . . Saturday, June 26, 2004
(t) Short time: . . . . . . . 8:11 PM
(T) Long time:. . . . . . . . 8:11:04 PM
(f) Full date/short time: . . Saturday, June 26, 2004 8:11 PM
(F) Full date/long time:. . . Saturday, June 26, 2004 8:11:04 PM
(g) General date/short time:. 6/26/2004 8:11 PM
(G) General date/long time: . 6/26/2004 8:11:04 PM
    (default):. . . . . . . . 6/26/2004 8:11:04 PM (default = 'G')
(M) Month:. . . . . . . . . . June 26
(R) RFC1123:. . . . . . . . . Sat, 26 Jun 2004 20:11:04 GMT
(s) Sortable: . . . . . . . . 2004-06-26T20:11:04
(u) Universal sortable: . . . 2004-06-26 20:11:04Z (invariant)
(U) Universal full date/time: Sunday, June 27, 2004 3:11:04 AM
(Y) Year: . . . . . . . . . . June, 2004

Standard Enumeration Format Specifiers
(G) General:. . . . . . . . . Green
    (default):. . . . . . . . Green (default = 'G')
(F) Flags:. . . . . . . . . . Green (flags or integer)
(D) Decimal number: . . . . . 3
(X) Hexadecimal:. . . . . . . 00000003
*/

Tables

The snippet below examplifies how to format strings in a table format.

using System;

class Program {
    static void Main(string[] args) {
        string headers = $"{"First Name", -20} {"Last Name", -20} {"Value", -20} {"Time", -20}";
        string line	= $"{"Luiz", -20} {"Parente", -20} {20, -20:C} {DateTime.Now, -20:d}";

        Console.WriteLine(headers);
        Console.WriteLine(line);
    }
}

/*
This code example produces the following results:

First Name           Last Name            Value                Time                
Luiz                 Parente              $20.00               2/9/2020            
*/