String.Length Property

Definition

Namespace:

System

Assembly:

System.Runtime.dll

Source:

String.cs

Gets the number of characters in the current String object.

public:
 property int Length { int get(); };

public int Length { get; }

member this.Length : int

Public ReadOnly Property Length As Integer

Property Value

Int32

The number of characters in the current string.

Examples

The following example demonstrates the Length property.

// Sample for String::Length
using namespace System;
int main()
{
   String^ str = "abcdefg";
   Console::WriteLine( "1) The length of '{0}' is {1}", str, str->Length );
   Console::WriteLine( "2) The length of '{0}' is {1}", "xyz", ((String^)"xyz")->Length );
   int length = str->Length;
   Console::WriteLine( "1) The length of '{0}' is {1}", str, length );
}

/*
This example displays the following output:
   1) The length of 'abcdefg' is 7
   2) The length of 'xyz' is 3
   3) The length of 'abcdefg' is 7
*/

string str = "abcdefg";
Console.WriteLine("1) The length of '{0}' is {1}", str, str.Length);
Console.WriteLine("2) The length of '{0}' is {1}", "xyz", "xyz".Length);

int length = str.Length;
Console.WriteLine("3) The length of '{0}' is {1}", str, length);

// This example displays the following output:
//    1) The length of 'abcdefg' is 7
//    2) The length of 'xyz' is 3
//    3) The length of 'abcdefg' is 7

let str = "abcdefg"
printfn $"1) The length of '{str}' is {str.Length}"
printfn $"""2) The length of '{"xyz"}' is {"xyz".Length}"""

let length = str.Length
printfn $"3) The length of '{str}' is {length}"

// This example displays the following output:
//    1) The length of 'abcdefg' is 7
//    2) The length of 'xyz' is 3
//    3) The length of 'abcdefg' is 7

Class Sample
   Public Shared Sub Main()
      Dim str As String = "abcdefg"
      Console.WriteLine("1) The length of '{0}' is {1}", str, str.Length)
      Console.WriteLine("2) The length of '{0}' is {1}", "xyz", "xyz".Length)
      Dim length As Integer = str.Length
      Console.WriteLine("1) The length of '{0}' is {1}", str, length)
   End Sub
End Class
'
'This example displays the following output:
'    1) The length of 'abcdefg' is 7
'    2) The length of 'xyz' is 3
'    3) The length of 'abcdefg' is 7

Remarks

The Length property returns the number of Char objects in this instance, not the number of Unicode characters. The reason is that a Unicode character might be represented by more than one Char. Use the System.Globalization.StringInfo class to work with each Unicode character instead of each Char.

In some languages, such as C and C++, a null character indicates the end of a string. In .NET, a null character can be embedded in a string. When a string includes one or more null characters, they are included in the length of the total string. For example, in the following string, the substrings "abc" and "def" are separated by a null character. The Length property returns 7, which indicates that it includes the six alphabetic characters as well as the null character.

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Text;

void main()
{
   String^ characters = "abc" + L'0' + "def";
   Console::WriteLine(characters->Length);        // Displays 7
}

string characters = "abc\u0000def";
Console.WriteLine(characters.Length); // Displays 7

let characters = "abc\u0000def"
printfn $"{characters.Length}" // Displays 7

Imports System.Text

Module Example

   Public Sub Main()
      Dim characters As String = "abc" + ChrW(0) + "def"
      Console.WriteLine(characters.Length)       ' Displays 7
   End Sub
End Module

See also

• Int32