CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netstring-formatting
Alan Thomas
Alan Thomas

Reputation: 1034

Adding leading zero to value less than 1

Given a decimal value, how can I add a leading zero in a string only when a value is less than 1?

Eg.

.20  ->  "0.20"   - Add a leading 0

1.20 ->  "1.20"   - Value remains the same

The value before the decimal place could be of any length and the value after the decimal place will only be 2 digits ie. currency. Is this achievable with String.Format()? Or should I rely on a basic if statement?

The String.Format() documentation is rather confusing to me.

I've checked several other questions/answers and can't seem to find what I'm looking for.

EDIT: As mentioned by several answers, this kind of leading zero addition should be the default behavior of the ToString() method called on a value. For whatever reason, that isn't happening in my case, so The String.Format() is necessary in my case.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2944

Answers (4)

Ingenioushax
Ingenioushax

Reputation: 718

All the other prior answers would be the preferred way to do what you're attempting. But here is an alternative to using string format specifiers.

var valStrVersion = ((val < 1.0M) ? "0" + val.ToString() : val.ToString());

And then you could whatever it is you need to do with it. Convert it back, print it out, whatever. Are you appending M to your decimal value when you declare it? decimal dec = 0.15M;?

Upvotes: 1

Mike Hixson
Mike Hixson

Reputation: 5189

What you are asking for is actually the default behavior of ToString() for a decimal type. You dont need String.Format().

    decimal d = .20M;
    string s = d.ToString();

    Console.WriteLine(s);

Upvotes: 2

Sergey Kalinichenko
Sergey Kalinichenko

Reputation: 727047

If you use zero before a dot in the format string, you would get the desired effect:

string.Format("{0:0.00}", currency);

or using C# 6 syntax

$"{currency:0.00}"

Note that .NET also provides a generic format specifier for formatting currency, which takes care of leading zero as well:

$"{currency:C}"

Upvotes: 2

Slippery Pete
Slippery Pete

Reputation: 3110

It is possible with string.format():

string.Format("{0:0.00}", 0.2)  // 0.20
string.Format("{0:0.00}", 1.20) // 1.20

You can also use ToString() on the variables themselves:

var d1 = 0.2;
var d2 = 1.20;
Console.WriteLine(d1.ToString("0.00"));  // 0.20
Console.WriteLine(d2.ToString("0.00"));  // 1.20

Upvotes: 6

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