CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#performanceappendstringbuilderstring.format
B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven
B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven

Reputation: 10237

Is AppendFormat() or AppendLine() the safer/sleeker solution?

I've been creating dynamic strings to append to a StringBuilder like so:

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
string bla = "bla";
sb.AppendLine(string.Format("android:id=\"@+id/{0}\" ", bla));

...but then I noticed that StringBuilder has an AppendFormat() method, which obviates the "string.Format()". So I wondered if AppendFormat() also adds a newline, as AppendLine() does (as opposed to Append(), which doesn't).

IOW, to achieve the same effect as:

sb.AppendLine(string.Format("android:id=\"@+id/{0}\" ", bla));

...when using AppendFormat(), would I need to use two lines, like so:

sb.AppendFormat("android:id=\"@+id/{0}\" ", bla);
sb.AppendLine();

?

The answer is yes - two lines are needed, or I must revert to explicitly using string.Format() within a call to AppendLine().

Actually, there is at least one way this can be accomplished in one line with AppendFormat(), to wit:

sb.AppendFormat("android:id=\"@+id/{0}\" {1}", bla, Environment.NewLine);

...but that is arguably no more elegant than than AppendLine(string.Format(...

So which of the following is better (more performant) or safer, or does it not matter?

sb.AppendFormat("android:id=\"@+id/{0}\" {1}", bla, Environment.NewLine);
sb.AppendLine(string.Format("android:id=\"@+id/{0}\" ", bla));

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2558

Answers (2)

Ulugbek Umirov
Ulugbek Umirov

Reputation: 12797

The most readable is:

sb.AppendFormat("android:id=\"@+id/{0}\" ", bla)
  .AppendLine();

string.Format uses StringBuilder internally, so I wouldn't go with sb.AppendLine(string.Format()).

Upvotes: 3

Servy
Servy

Reputation: 203821

Just create your own extension method that calls both AppendLine and AppendFormat, to create the method that you want, the ability to append a line using a format string without explicitly adding the new line character:

public static StringBuilder AppendLineFormat(
    this StringBuilder builder,
    string formatString,
    params object[] args)
{
    return builder.AppendFormat(formatString, args)
        .AppendLine();
}

(Feel free to create an overload of this for each overload of AppendFormat, if you want to.)

Upvotes: 5

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