StringBuilder.AppendFormat Method (System.Text) (original) (raw)

Source:

Appends the string returned by processing a composite format string, which contains zero or more format items, to this instance. Each format item is replaced by the string representation of a corresponding argument in a parameter array using a specified format provider.

public:
 System::Text::StringBuilder ^ AppendFormat(IFormatProvider ^ provider, System::String ^ format, ... cli::array <System::Object ^> ^ args);

public System.Text.StringBuilder AppendFormat(IFormatProvider provider, string format, params object[] args);

public System.Text.StringBuilder AppendFormat(IFormatProvider? provider, string format, params object?[] args);

member this.AppendFormat : IFormatProvider * string * obj[] -> System.Text.StringBuilder

Public Function AppendFormat (provider As IFormatProvider, format As String, ParamArray args As Object()) As StringBuilder

Parameters

provider

IFormatProvider

An object that supplies culture-specific formatting information.

format

String

A composite format string.

args

Object[]

An array of objects to format.

Returns

A reference to this instance after the append operation has completed. After the append operation, this instance contains any data that existed before the operation, suffixed by a copy of format where any format specification is replaced by the string representation of the corresponding object argument.

Exceptions

format is invalid.

-or-

The index of a format item is less than 0 (zero), or greater than or equal to the length of the args array.

The length of the expanded string would exceed MaxCapacity.

Examples

The following example demonstrates the AppendFormat method.

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Globalization;

class Sample
{
    static StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

    public static void Main()
    {
    int    var1   = 111;
    float  var2   = 2.22F;
    string var3   = "abcd";
    object[] var4 = {3, 4.4, 'X'};

    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("StringBuilder.AppendFormat method:");
    sb.AppendFormat("1) {0}", var1);
    Show(sb);
    sb.AppendFormat("2) {0}, {1}", var1, var2);
    Show(sb);
    sb.AppendFormat("3) {0}, {1}, {2}", var1, var2, var3);
    Show(sb);
    sb.AppendFormat("4) {0}, {1}, {2}", var4);
    Show(sb);
    CultureInfo ci = new CultureInfo("es-ES", true);
    sb.AppendFormat(ci, "5) {0}", var2);
    Show(sb);
    }

    public static void Show(StringBuilder sbs)
    {
    Console.WriteLine(sbs.ToString());
    sb.Length = 0;
    }
}
/*
This example produces the following results:

StringBuilder.AppendFormat method:
1) 111
2) 111, 2.22
3) 111, 2.22, abcd
4) 3, 4.4, X
5) 2,22
*/

open System.Text
open System.Globalization

let sb = StringBuilder()

let show (sbs: StringBuilder) =
    printfn $"{sbs}"
    sb.Length <- 0

let var1 = 111
let var2 = 2.22f
let var3 = "abcd"
let var4: obj[] = [| 3; 4.4; 'X' |]

printfn "StringBuilder.AppendFormat method:"
sb.AppendFormat("1) {0}", var1) |> ignore
show sb
sb.AppendFormat("2) {0}, {1}", var1, var2) |> ignore
show sb
sb.AppendFormat("3) {0}, {1}, {2}", var1, var2, var3) |> ignore
show sb
sb.AppendFormat("4) {0}, {1}, {2}", var4) |> ignore
show sb
let ci = CultureInfo("es-ES", true)
sb.AppendFormat(ci, "5) {0}", var2) |> ignore
show sb

// This example produces the following results:
//       StringBuilder.AppendFormat method:
//       1) 111
//       2) 111, 2.22
//       3) 111, 2.22, abcd
//       4) 3, 4.4, X
//       5) 2,22

Imports System.Text
Imports System.Globalization

Class Sample
   Private Shared sb As New StringBuilder()

   Public Shared Sub Main()
      Dim var1 As Integer = 111
      Dim var2 As Single = 2.22F
      Dim var3 As String = "abcd"
      Dim var4 As Object() =  {3, 4.4, "X"c}
      
      Console.WriteLine()
      Console.WriteLine("StringBuilder.AppendFormat method:")
      sb.AppendFormat("1) {0}", var1)
      Show(sb)
      sb.AppendFormat("2) {0}, {1}", var1, var2)
      Show(sb)
      sb.AppendFormat("3) {0}, {1}, {2}", var1, var2, var3)
      Show(sb)
      sb.AppendFormat("4) {0}, {1}, {2}", var4)
      Show(sb)
      Dim ci As New CultureInfo("es-ES", True)
      sb.AppendFormat(ci, "5) {0}", var2)
      Show(sb)
   End Sub
   
   Public Shared Sub Show(sbs As StringBuilder)
      Console.WriteLine(sbs.ToString())
      sb.Length = 0
   End Sub
End Class
'
'This example produces the following results:
'
'StringBuilder.AppendFormat method:
'1) 111
'2) 111, 2.22
'3) 111, 2.22, abcd
'4) 3, 4.4, X
'5) 2,22

The following example defines a custom IFormatProvider implementation named CustomerFormatter that formats a 10-digit customer number with hyphens after the fourth and seventh digits. It is passed to the StringBuilder.AppendFormat(IFormatProvider, String, Object[]) method to create a string that includes the formatted customer number and customer name.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class Customer
{
   private string custName;
   private int custNumber;
   
   public Customer(string name, int number)
   {
      this.custName = name;
      this.custNumber = number;
   }
   
   public string Name
   {
      get { return this.custName; }
   }
   
   public int CustomerNumber
   {
      get { return this.custNumber; }
   }
}

public class CustomerNumberFormatter : IFormatProvider, ICustomFormatter
{   
   public object GetFormat(Type formatType)
   {
      if (formatType == typeof(ICustomFormatter))
         return this;
      return null;
   }
   
   public string Format(string format, object arg, IFormatProvider provider)
   {
      if (arg is Int32)
      {
         string custNumber = ((int) arg).ToString("D10");
         return custNumber.Substring(0, 4) + "-" + custNumber.Substring(4, 3) + 
                "-" + custNumber.Substring(7, 3);
      }
      else
      {
         return null;
      }
   }                   
}

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      Customer customer = new Customer("A Plus Software", 903654);
      StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
      sb.AppendFormat(new CustomerNumberFormatter(), "{0}: {1}", 
                      customer.CustomerNumber, customer.Name);
      Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
   }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//      0000-903-654: A Plus Software

open System
open System.Text

type Customer(name: string, number: int) =
    member _.Name = name
    member _.CustomerNumber = number

type CustomerNumberFormatter() =
    interface IFormatProvider with
        member this.GetFormat(formatType) =
            if formatType = typeof<ICustomFormatter> then this else null

    interface ICustomFormatter with
        member _.Format(_, arg, _) =
            match arg with
            | :? int as i ->
                let custNumber = i.ToString "D10"
                $"{custNumber.Substring(0, 4)}-{custNumber.Substring(4, 3)}-{custNumber.Substring(7, 3)}"
            | _ -> null

let customer = Customer("A Plus Software", 903654)
let sb = StringBuilder()

sb.AppendFormat(CustomerNumberFormatter(), "{0}: {1}", customer.CustomerNumber, customer.Name)
|> ignore

printfn $"{sb}"

// The example displays the following output:
//      0000-903-654: A Plus Software

Imports System.Text

Public Class Customer
   Private custName As String
   Private custNumber As Integer
   
   Public Sub New(name As String, number As Integer)
      custName = name
      custNumber = number
   End Sub
   
   Public ReadOnly Property Name As String
      Get
         Return Me.custName
      End Get
   End Property
   
   Public ReadOnly Property CustomerNumber As Integer
      Get
         Return Me.custNumber
      End Get
   End Property
End Class

Public Class CustomerNumberFormatter 
   Implements IFormatProvider, ICustomFormatter
   
   Public Function GetFormat(formatType As Type) As Object _
                   Implements IFormatProvider.GetFormat
      If formatType Is GetType(ICustomFormatter) Then
         Return Me
      End If
      Return Nothing
   End Function
   
   Public Function Format(fmt As String, arg As Object, provider As IFormatProvider) As String _
                   Implements ICustomFormatter.Format
      If typeof arg Is Int32 Then
         Dim custNumber As String = CInt(arg).ToString("D10")
         Return custNumber.Substring(0, 4) + "-" + custNumber.SubString(4, 3) + _
                "-" + custNumber.Substring(7, 3)
      Else
         Return Nothing
      End If
   End Function                   
End Class

Module Example
   Public Sub Main()
      Dim customer As New Customer("A Plus Software", 903654)
      Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
      sb.AppendFormat(New CustomerNumberFormatter, "{0}: {1}", _
                      customer.CustomerNumber, customer.Name)
      Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString())
   End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'      0000-903-654: A Plus Software

Remarks

This method uses the composite formatting feature of the .NET Framework to convert the value of an object to its text representation and embed that representation in the current StringBuilder object.

The format parameter consists of zero or more runs of text intermixed with zero or more indexed placeholders, called format items, that correspond to objects in the parameter list of this method. The formatting process replaces each format item with the string representation of the corresponding object.

The syntax of a format item is as follows:

{_index_[,_length_][:_formatString_]}

Elements in square brackets are optional. The following table describes each element.

Element	Description
index	The zero-based position in the parameter list of the object to be formatted. If the object specified by index is null, the format item is replaced by String.Empty. If there is no parameter in the index position, a FormatException is thrown.
,length	The minimum number of characters in the string representation of the parameter. If positive, the parameter is right-aligned; if negative, it is left-aligned.
:formatString	A standard or custom format string that is supported by the parameter.

The provider parameter specifies an IFormatProvider implementation that can provide formatting information for the objects in args. provider can be any of the following:

A CultureInfo object that provides culture-specific formatting information.
A NumberFormatInfo object that provides culture-specific formatting information for numeric values in args.
A DateTimeFormatInfo object that provides culture-specific formatting information for date and time values in args.
A custom IFormatProvider implementation that provides formatting information for one or more of the objects in args. Typically, such an implementation also implements the ICustomFormatter interface. The second example in the next section illustrates an StringBuilder.AppendFormat(IFormatProvider, String, Object[]) method call with a custom IFormatProvider implementation.

If the provider parameter is null, format provider information is obtained from the current culture.

args represents the objects to be formatted. Each format item in format is replaced with the string representation of the corresponding object in args. If the format item includes formatString and the corresponding object in args implements the IFormattable interface, then args[index].ToString(formatString, provider) defines the formatting. Otherwise, args[index].ToString() defines the formatting.

Notes to Callers

In .NET Core and in the .NET Framework 4.0 and later versions, when you instantiate the StringBuilder object by calling the StringBuilder(Int32, Int32) constructor, both the length and the capacity of the StringBuilder instance can grow beyond the value of its MaxCapacity property. This can occur particularly when you call the Append(String) and AppendFormat(String, Object) methods to append small strings.