How can I align text in columns using Console.WriteLine?

Question

I have a sort of column display, but the end two column's seem to not be aligning correctly. This is the code I have at the moment:

Console.WriteLine("Customer name    "      + "sales          "      + "fee to be paid    "      + "70% value       "      + "30% value"); for (int DisplayPos = 0; DisplayPos < LineNum; DisplayPos = DisplayPos + 1) {     seventy_percent_value = ((fee_payable[DisplayPos] / 10.0) * 7);     thirty_percent_value = ((fee_payable[DisplayPos] / 10.0) * 3);               Console.WriteLine(customer[DisplayPos] + "         "          + sales_figures[DisplayPos] + "               "          + fee_payable[DisplayPos] + "           "          + seventy_percent_value + "           "          + thirty_percent_value); } 

Answer 1

Try this

Console.WriteLine("{0,10}{1,10}{2,10}{3,10}{4,10}",   customer[DisplayPos],   sales_figures[DisplayPos],   fee_payable[DisplayPos],    seventy_percent_value,   thirty_percent_value); 

where the first number inside the curly brackets is the index and the second is the alignment. The sign of the second number indicates if the string should be left or right aligned. Use negative numbers for left alignment.

Or look at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa331875(v=vs.71).aspx

Answer 2

Just to add to roya's answer. In c# 6.0 you can now use string interpolation:

Console.WriteLine($"{customer[DisplayPos],10}" +                   $"{salesFigures[DisplayPos],10}" +                   $"{feePayable[DisplayPos],10}" +                   $"{seventyPercentValue,10}" +                   $"{thirtyPercentValue,10}"); 

This can actually be one line without all the extra dollars, I just think it makes it a bit easier to read like this.

And you could also use a static import on System.Console, allowing you to do this:

using static System.Console;  WriteLine(/* write stuff */);