CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netstring-formatting
CathalMF
CathalMF

Reputation: 10055

Is there a better way to use string.format to pad a number with a Negative symbol or space

Sorry for the title but cant really think of a way to phrase it!

Anyway I want to create a string of numbers where the space between the numbers is used to hold the negative symbol if it is required.

Eg. 

00003232 00002132-00000545 00646545-00000465

To do this im using the formatting {0: #00000000;-#00000000}

This works but my string is pretty long so I will need a lot of the above formatting types with varying numbers of zeros.

Is there a better way?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 985

Answers (2)

ozidom
ozidom

Reputation: 159

I used the following and seemed to work:

int[] test = { 3232, 2132, -545, 646545, -465 };
StringBuilder resultString = new StringBuilder();
test.ToList().ForEach(i =>
{
    string delimeter = i>=0?" ":"-";
    string value = Math.Abs(i).ToString("00000000");
    resultString.AppendFormat("{0}{1}", delimeter, value);
});
Console.WriteLine(resultString.ToString());

Upvotes: 0

Robert Snyder
Robert Snyder

Reputation: 2409

I think I've done something similar and the article below helped me. I think the model you want would be something like

string.Format("{0:D8}", number)

if not something very close to that. Below is the link and info I"m basing my answer on.

In reply to your comment, I ran this test (which passes)

    [Test()]
    public void TestNegativePadding()
    {
        int number1 = 123;
        int number2 = -123;
        Assert.AreEqual(" 00000123", string.Format("{0,9:D8}", number1));
        Assert.AreEqual("-00000123", string.Format("{0,9:D8}", number2));

        string str = "";
        int[] test = {3232, 2132, -545, 646545, -465};
        foreach (var number in test)
        {
            str += string.Format("{0,9:D8}", number);
        }
        Assert.AreEqual("00003232 00002132-00000545 00646545-00000465", str.Trim());
    }

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd260048(v=vs.110).aspx

byte byteValue = 254;
short shortValue = 10342;
int intValue = 1023983;
long lngValue = 6985321;               
ulong ulngValue = UInt64.MaxValue;

// Display integer values by caling the ToString method.
Console.WriteLine("{0,22} {1,22}", byteValue.ToString("D8"), byteValue.ToString("X8"));
Console.WriteLine("{0,22} {1,22}", shortValue.ToString("D8"), shortValue.ToString("X8"));
Console.WriteLine("{0,22} {1,22}", intValue.ToString("D8"), intValue.ToString("X8"));
Console.WriteLine("{0,22} {1,22}", lngValue.ToString("D8"), lngValue.ToString("X8"));
Console.WriteLine("{0,22} {1,22}", ulngValue.ToString("D8"), ulngValue.ToString("X8"));
Console.WriteLine();

// Display the same integer values by using composite formatting.
Console.WriteLine("{0,22:D8} {0,22:X8}", byteValue);
Console.WriteLine("{0,22:D8} {0,22:X8}", shortValue);
Console.WriteLine("{0,22:D8} {0,22:X8}", intValue);
Console.WriteLine("{0,22:D8} {0,22:X8}", lngValue);
Console.WriteLine("{0,22:D8} {0,22:X8}", ulngValue);
// The example displays the following output: 
//                     00000254               000000FE 
//                     00010342               00002866 
//                     01023983               000F9FEF 
//                     06985321               006A9669 
//         18446744073709551615       FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF 
//        
//                     00000254               000000FE 
//                     00010342               00002866 
//                     01023983               000F9FEF 
//                     06985321               006A9669 
//         18446744073709551615       FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF 
//         18446744073709551615       FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Upvotes: 1

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