C# - Insert a variable number of spaces into a string? (Formatting an output file)

Solution 1:

For this you probably want myString.PadRight(totalLength, charToInsert).

See String.PadRight Method (Int32) for more info.

Solution 2:

Use String.Format() or TextWriter.Format() (depending on how you actually write to the file) and specify the width of a field.

String.Format("{0,20}{1,15}{2,15}", "Sample Title One", "Element One", "Whatever Else");

You can specify the width of a field within interpolated strings as well:

$"{"Sample Title One",20}{"Element One",15}{"Whatever Else",15}"

And just so you know, you can create a string of repeated characters using the appropriate string contructor.

new String(' ', 20); // string of 20 spaces

Solution 3:

Use String.Format:

string title1 = "Sample Title One";
string element1 = "Element One";
string format = "{0,-20} {1,-10}";

string result = string.Format(format, title1, element1);
//or you can print to Console directly with
//Console.WriteLine(format, title1, element1);

In the format {0,-20} means the first argument has a fixed length 20, and the negative sign guarantees the string is printed from left to right.

Solution 4:

Just for kicks, here's the functions I wrote to do it before I had the .PadRight bit:

    public string insertSpacesAtEnd(string input, int longest)
    {
        string output = input;
        string spaces = "";
        int inputLength = input.Length;
        int numToInsert = longest - inputLength;

        for (int i = 0; i < numToInsert; i++)
        {
            spaces += " ";
        }

        output += spaces;

        return output;
    }

    public int findLongest(List<Results> theList)
    {
        int longest = 0;

        for (int i = 0; i < theList.Count; i++)
        {
            if (longest < theList[i].title.Length)
                longest = theList[i].title.Length;
        }
        return longest;
    }

    ////Usage////
    for (int i = 0; i < storageList.Count; i++)
    {
        output += insertSpacesAtEnd(storageList[i].title, longest + 5) +   storageList[i].rank.Trim() + "     " + storageList[i].term.Trim() + "         " + storageList[i].name + "\r\n";
    }