How can I display a negative symbol in .NET?

Question

I want to display a negative symbol from a string in .NET. I want a string that represents an equation that looks something like this:

7--5=12

But when displayed, I want the 2nd minus sign to be slightly raised so it looks more natural as a negative sign instead of just 2 minus signs in a row.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

Not sure if theres a character for what you want but a simple solution (and one that would be easily understood and implemented) would be to surround your negative number in brackets:

7 - (-5) = 13

Answer 2

Use the Unicode character SUPERSCRIPT MINUS (U+207B) ⁻.

For example:

7-⁻5 = 13 

EDIT: Or, with a MINUS SIGN (U+2212) ⁻ for the minus:

7 − ⁻5 = 13 

Answer 3

Provided that you're using unicode you can use a true minus sign, "−" (U+2212) rather than a hyphen-minus, "-" (U+002D). Just be aware that it's not ASCII compatible

Here's your example showing them:

7 - −5=13

Also, here's some fun wiki-articles on all sorts of dash-hyphen-minus lines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#Common_dashes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minus_sign#Character_codes

Answer 4

This is a great resource on format strings in C#: SteveX Compiled - Format Strings

You can choose how a negative number is displayed by using a range expression for your format string. It's in the format:

{0:<PositiveFormat>;<NegativeFormat>;<ZeroFormat>}

For example, this is how to display a negative number in parenthesis and the word "Zero" for 0:

{0:#;(#);Zero}

Using this technique, I think you can try it with the superscript version of negative (which is ascii code U+207B) in the negative format string.

{0:#;⁻#;Zero}

HTH, Anderson

Answer 5

Traditionally in math typography you use an en dash U+2013 or minus U+2212 (but not a hyphen!) for both binary (subtraction) and unary (negation) minus, and they are differentiated with spacing (spaces before and after a binary minus, no space between a unary minus and the number it negates).

But if you want to further distinguish the unary, I'd recommend substituting the superscript minus U+207B (but keep the spacing around the subtraction minus):

7 − ⁻5 = 13