StringBuilder.Length Property

Definition

Gets or sets the length of the current StringBuilder object.

public int Length { get; set; }

Property Value

The length of this instance.

Exceptions

The value specified for a set operation is less than zero or greater than MaxCapacity.

Examples

The following example demonstrates the Length property.

using System;
using System.Text;

class Sample
{
    public static void Main()
    {
    StringBuilder sb1 = new StringBuilder("abc");
    StringBuilder sb2 = new StringBuilder("abc", 16);

    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("a1) sb1.Length = {0}, sb1.Capacity = {1}", sb1.Length, sb1.Capacity);
    Console.WriteLine("a2) sb2.Length = {0}, sb2.Capacity = {1}", sb2.Length, sb2.Capacity);
    Console.WriteLine("a3) sb1.ToString() = \"{0}\", sb2.ToString() = \"{1}\"",
                           sb1.ToString(),       sb2.ToString());
    Console.WriteLine("a4) sb1 equals sb2: {0}", sb1.Equals(sb2));

    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("Ensure sb1 has a capacity of at least 50 characters.");
    sb1.EnsureCapacity(50);

    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("b1) sb1.Length = {0}, sb1.Capacity = {1}", sb1.Length, sb1.Capacity);
    Console.WriteLine("b2) sb2.Length = {0}, sb2.Capacity = {1}", sb2.Length, sb2.Capacity);
    Console.WriteLine("b3) sb1.ToString() = \"{0}\", sb2.ToString() = \"{1}\"",
                           sb1.ToString(),       sb2.ToString());
    Console.WriteLine("b4) sb1 equals sb2: {0}", sb1.Equals(sb2));

    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("Set the length of sb1 to zero.");
    Console.WriteLine("Set the capacity of sb2 to 51 characters.");
    sb1.Length = 0;
    sb2.Capacity = 51;

    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("c1) sb1.Length = {0}, sb1.Capacity = {1}", sb1.Length, sb1.Capacity);
    Console.WriteLine("c2) sb2.Length = {0}, sb2.Capacity = {1}", sb2.Length, sb2.Capacity);
    Console.WriteLine("c3) sb1.ToString() = \"{0}\", sb2.ToString() = \"{1}\"",
                           sb1.ToString(),       sb2.ToString());
    Console.WriteLine("c4) sb1 equals sb2: {0}", sb1.Equals(sb2));
    }
}
/*
The example displays the following output:

a1) sb1.Length = 3, sb1.Capacity = 16
a2) sb2.Length = 3, sb2.Capacity = 16
a3) sb1.ToString() = "abc", sb2.ToString() = "abc"
a4) sb1 equals sb2: True

Ensure sb1 has a capacity of at least 50 characters.

b1) sb1.Length = 3, sb1.Capacity = 50
b2) sb2.Length = 3, sb2.Capacity = 16
b3) sb1.ToString() = "abc", sb2.ToString() = "abc"
b4) sb1 equals sb2: False

Set the length of sb1 to zero.
Set the capacity of sb2 to 51 characters.

c1) sb1.Length = 0, sb1.Capacity = 50
c2) sb2.Length = 3, sb2.Capacity = 51
c3) sb1.ToString() = "", sb2.ToString() = "abc"
c4) sb1 equals sb2: False
*/

Remarks

The length of a StringBuilder object is defined by its number of Char objects.

Like the String.Length property, the Length property indicates the length of the current string object. Unlike the String.Length property, which is read-only, the Length property allows you to modify the length of the string stored to the StringBuilder object.

If the specified length is less than the current length, the current StringBuilder object is truncated to the specified length. If the specified length is greater than the current length, the end of the string value of the current StringBuilder object is padded with the Unicode NULL character (U+0000).

If the specified length is greater than the current capacity, Capacity increases so that it is greater than or equal to the specified length.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0