C# Strings
By Stephen Armstrong // November 23, 2019
How to add text to your game.
Strings are text. They are used in games to contain in-game elements such as dialogue and menu text, and behind-the-scenes elements such as save file locations.
Creating and using strings
Use the following C# code to create a string called exampleString that contains the following text: “This-Is-A-New-String”
string exampleString = "This-Is-A-New-String";Strings have numerous properties/methods that you can use in your game. The following table is a brief overview, including example code and results.
| Code | Example | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| .Contains() | bool containsTest = exampleString.Contains(“new-st”); | Checks if a string contains the specified string (is case sensitive). | containsTest is False. |
| bool containsTest = exampleString.Contains(“New-St”); | containsTest is True. | ||
| .ToUpper() | string upperString = exampleString.ToUpper(); | CHANGES THE ENTIRE STRING TO UPPER CASE. | upperString == “THIS-IS-A-NEW-STRING” |
| .ToLower() | string lowerString = exampleString.ToLower(); | changes the entire string to lower case. | lowerString == “this-is-a-new-string” |
| .Substring() | string substringTest = exampleString.Substring(9); | Gets everything after the ninth character. | substringTest == “-New-String” |
| string substringTest = exampleString.Substring(9,4); | Gets the first four characters after the ninth character. | substringTest == “-New” | |
| .Insert() | string insertTest = exampleString.Insert(8,“Not-”); | Inserts “Not-” into the string after the eighth character. | insertTest == “This-Is-Not-A-New-String” |
| .StartsWith() | bool startsTest = exampleString.StartsWith(“T”) | Checks if the string starts with the specified string (is case sensitive). | startsTest is True. |
| bool startsTest = exampleString.StartsWith(“t”) | startsTest is False. | ||
| .EndsWith() | bool endsTest = exampleString.EndsWith(“G”); | Checks if the string ends with the specified string (is case sensitive). | endsTest is False. |
| bool endsTest = exampleString.EndsWith(“g”); | endsTest is True. | ||
| .Length() | int testLength = exampleString.Length; | The total length of the string (including spaces). | testLength == 20 |
| .Remove() | string removeTest = exampleString.Remove(4); | Removes everything after the fourth character. | removeTest == “This” |
| string removeTest = exampleString.Remove(4,5); | Removes the five characters that come after the fourth character. | removeTest == “This-New-String” | |
| .Replace() | string replaceTest = exampleString.Replace(”-”,” ”); | Replaces every dash (-) in the string with a space. | replaceTest == “This Is A New String” |
| .Split() | string[] splitTest = exampleString.Split(new char[] i); | Splits the string into a string array. The split point is the character “i”. | splitTest[0] == “Th” splitTest[1] == “s-Is-A-New-Str” splitTest[2] == “ng” |
| string[] splitTest = exampleString.Split(new char[] i, 2); | Splits the string into a string array with a maximum length of two entries. The split point is the character “i”. | splitTest[0] == “Th” splitTest[1] == “s-Is-A-New-String” |
As an overview, this table should provide you with some idea of how to use these properties/methods in your MonoGame project. Feel free to experiment with them to see what you can do!
Adding to a string
Strings use the same += operator as numbers, so it’s very easy to add extra content to a string
// Add content to the end of the string
exampleString += "-With-A-Little-Extra";
System.Console.WriteLine("Added extra content to exampleString: {0}", exampleString);If you run that code, it will display the appended string in the Output.
