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

Question

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

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

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

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.

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";
    }