System.Text.StringBuilder class

This article provides supplementary remarks to the reference documentation for this API.

The StringBuilder class represents a string-like object whose value is a mutable sequence of characters.

StringBuilder versus String type

Although StringBuilder and String both represent sequences of characters, they are implemented differently. String is an immutable type. That is, each operation that appears to modify a String object actually creates a new string.

For example, the call to the String.Concat method in the following C# example appears to change the value of a string variable named value. In fact, the Concat method returns a value object that has a different value and address from the value object that was passed to the method. Note that the example must be compiled using the /unsafe compiler option.

using System;

public class Example7
{
    public unsafe static void Main()
    {
        string value = "This is the first sentence" + ".";
        fixed (char* start = value)
        {
            value = String.Concat(value, "This is the second sentence. ");
            fixed (char* current = value)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(start == current);
            }
        }
    }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//      False

    let mutable value = "This is the first sentence" + "."
    use start = fixed value
    value <- System.String.Concat(value, "This is the second sentence. ")
    use current = fixed value
    printfn $"{start = current}"
// The example displays the following output:
//      False

For routines that perform extensive string manipulation (such as apps that modify a string numerous times in a loop), modifying a string repeatedly can exert a significant performance penalty. The alternative is to use StringBuilder, which is a mutable string class. Mutability means that once an instance of the class has been created, it can be modified by appending, removing, replacing, or inserting characters.

Consider using the String class under these conditions:

• When the number of changes that your code will make to a string is small. In these cases, StringBuilder might offer negligible or no performance improvement over String.
• When you perform a fixed number of concatenation operations, particularly with string literals. In this case, the compiler might combine the concatenation operations into a single operation.
• When you have to perform extensive search operations while you are building your string. The StringBuilder class lacks search methods such as IndexOf or StartsWith. You'll have to convert the StringBuilder object to a String for these operations, and this can negate the performance benefit from using StringBuilder. For more information, see the Search the text in a StringBuilder object section.

Consider using the StringBuilder class under these conditions:

• When you expect your code to make an unknown number of changes to a string at design time (for example, when you use a loop to concatenate a random number of strings that contain user input).
• When you expect your code to make a significant number of changes to a string.

How StringBuilder works

The StringBuilder.Length property indicates the number of characters the StringBuilder object currently contains. If you add characters to the StringBuilder object, its length increases until it equals the size of the StringBuilder.Capacity property, which defines the number of characters that the object can contain. If the number of added characters causes the length of the StringBuilder object to exceed its current capacity, new memory is allocated, the value of the Capacity property is doubled, new characters are added to the StringBuilder object, and its Length property is adjusted. Additional memory for the StringBuilder object is allocated dynamically until it reaches the value defined by the StringBuilder.MaxCapacity property. When the maximum capacity is reached, no further memory can be allocated for the StringBuilder object, and trying to add characters or expand it beyond its maximum capacity throws either an ArgumentOutOfRangeException or an OutOfMemoryException exception.

The following example illustrates how a StringBuilder object allocates new memory and increases its capacity dynamically as the string assigned to the object expands. The code creates a StringBuilder object by calling its default (parameterless) constructor. The default capacity of this object is 16 characters, and its maximum capacity is more than 2 billion characters. Appending the string "This is a sentence." results in a new memory allocation because the string length (19 characters) exceeds the default capacity of the StringBuilder object. The capacity of the object doubles to 32 characters, the new string is added, and the length of the object now equals 19 characters. The code then appends the string "This is an additional sentence." to the value of the StringBuilder object 11 times. Whenever the append operation causes the length of the StringBuilder object to exceed its capacity, its existing capacity is doubled and the Append operation succeeds.

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Text;

public class Example4
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        ShowSBInfo(sb);
        sb.Append("This is a sentence.");
        ShowSBInfo(sb);
        for (int ctr = 0; ctr <= 10; ctr++)
        {
            sb.Append("This is an additional sentence.");
            ShowSBInfo(sb);
        }
    }

    private static void ShowSBInfo(StringBuilder sb)
    {
        foreach (var prop in sb.GetType().GetProperties())
        {
            if (prop.GetIndexParameters().Length == 0)
                Console.Write("{0}: {1:N0}    ", prop.Name, prop.GetValue(sb));
        }
        Console.WriteLine();
    }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//    Capacity: 16    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 0
//    Capacity: 32    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 19
//    Capacity: 64    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 50
//    Capacity: 128    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 81
//    Capacity: 128    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 112
//    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 143
//    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 174
//    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 205
//    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 236
//    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 267
//    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 298
//    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 329
//    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 360

open System.Text

let showSBInfo (sb: StringBuilder) =
    for prop in sb.GetType().GetProperties() do
        if prop.GetIndexParameters().Length = 0 then
            printf $"{prop.Name}: {prop.GetValue sb:N0}    "

    printfn ""

let sb = StringBuilder()
showSBInfo sb
sb.Append "This is a sentence." |> ignore
showSBInfo sb

for i = 0 to 10 do
    sb.Append "This is an additional sentence." |> ignore
    showSBInfo sb

// The example displays the following output:
//    Capacity: 16    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 0
//    Capacity: 32    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 19
//    Capacity: 64    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 50
//    Capacity: 128    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 81
//    Capacity: 128    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 112
//    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 143
//    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 174
//    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 205
//    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 236
//    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 267
//    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 298
//    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 329
//    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 360

Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.Text

Module Example5
    Public Sub Main()
        Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
        ShowSBInfo(sb)
        sb.Append("This is a sentence.")
        ShowSBInfo(sb)
        For ctr As Integer = 0 To 10
            sb.Append("This is an additional sentence.")
            ShowSBInfo(sb)
        Next
    End Sub

    Public Sub ShowSBInfo(sb As StringBuilder)
        For Each prop In sb.GetType().GetProperties
            If prop.GetIndexParameters().Length = 0 Then
                Console.Write("{0}: {1:N0}    ", prop.Name, prop.GetValue(sb))
            End If
        Next
        Console.WriteLine()
    End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'    Capacity: 16    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 0
'    Capacity: 32    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 19
'    Capacity: 64    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 50
'    Capacity: 128    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 81
'    Capacity: 128    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 112
'    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 143
'    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 174
'    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 205
'    Capacity: 256    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 236
'    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 267
'    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 298
'    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 329
'    Capacity: 512    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 360

Memory allocation

The default capacity of a StringBuilder object is 16 characters, and its default maximum capacity is Int32.MaxValue. These default values are used if you call the StringBuilder() and StringBuilder(String) constructors.

You can explicitly define the initial capacity of a StringBuilder object in the following ways:

• By calling any of the StringBuilder constructors that includes a capacity parameter when you create the object.
• By explicitly assigning a new value to the StringBuilder.Capacity property to expand an existing StringBuilder object. (The property throws an exception if the new capacity is less than the existing capacity or greater than the StringBuilder object's maximum capacity.)
• By calling the StringBuilder.EnsureCapacity method with the new capacity. The new capacity must not be greater than the StringBuilder object's maximum capacity. However, unlike an assignment to the Capacity property, EnsureCapacity does not throw an exception if the desired new capacity is less than the existing capacity. In this case, the method call has no effect.

If the length of the string assigned to the StringBuilder object in the constructor call exceeds either the default capacity or the specified capacity, the Capacity property is set to the length of the string specified with the value parameter.

You can explicitly define the maximum capacity of a StringBuilder object by calling the StringBuilder(Int32, Int32) constructor. You can't change the maximum capacity by assigning a new value to the MaxCapacity property, because it is read-only.

As the previous section shows, whenever the existing capacity is inadequate, additional memory is allocated and the capacity of a StringBuilder object doubles up to the value defined by the MaxCapacity property.

In general, the default capacity and maximum capacity are adequate for most apps. You might consider setting these values under the following conditions:

• If the eventual size of the StringBuilder object is likely to grow exceedingly large, typically in excess of several megabytes. In this case, there might be some performance benefit from setting the initial Capacity property to a significantly high value to eliminate the need for too many memory reallocations.
• If your code is running on a system with limited memory. In this case, you might consider setting the MaxCapacity property to less than Int32.MaxValue if your code is handling large strings that might cause it to execute in a memory-constrained environment.

Instantiate a StringBuilder object

You instantiate a StringBuilder object by calling one of its six overloaded class constructors, which are listed in the following table. Three of the constructors instantiate a StringBuilder object whose value is an empty string, but set its Capacity and MaxCapacity values differently. The remaining three constructors define a StringBuilder object that has a specific string value and capacity. Two of the three constructors use the default maximum capacity of Int32.MaxValue, whereas the third allows you to set the maximum capacity.

The following example uses three of these constructor overloads to instantiate StringBuilder objects.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class Example8
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string value = "An ordinary string";
        int index = value.IndexOf("An ") + 3;
        int capacity = 0xFFFF;

        // Instantiate a StringBuilder from a string.
        StringBuilder sb1 = new StringBuilder(value);
        ShowSBInfo(sb1);

        // Instantiate a StringBuilder from string and define a capacity.  
        StringBuilder sb2 = new StringBuilder(value, capacity);
        ShowSBInfo(sb2);

        // Instantiate a StringBuilder from substring and define a capacity.  
        StringBuilder sb3 = new StringBuilder(value, index,
                                              value.Length - index,
                                              capacity);
        ShowSBInfo(sb3);
    }

    public static void ShowSBInfo(StringBuilder sb)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("\nValue: {0}", sb.ToString());
        foreach (var prop in sb.GetType().GetProperties())
        {
            if (prop.GetIndexParameters().Length == 0)
                Console.Write("{0}: {1:N0}    ", prop.Name, prop.GetValue(sb));
        }
        Console.WriteLine();
    }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//    Value: An ordinary string
//    Capacity: 18    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 18
//    
//    Value: An ordinary string
//    Capacity: 65,535    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 18
//    
//    Value: ordinary string
//    Capacity: 65,535    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 15

open System.Text

let showSBInfo (sb: StringBuilder) =
    for prop in sb.GetType().GetProperties() do
        if prop.GetIndexParameters().Length = 0 then
            printf $"{prop.Name}: {prop.GetValue sb:N0}    "

    printfn ""

let value = "An ordinary string"
let index = value.IndexOf "An " + 3
let capacity = 0xFFFF

// Instantiate a StringBuilder from a string.
let sb1 = StringBuilder value
showSBInfo sb1

// Instantiate a StringBuilder from string and define a capacity.
let sb2 = StringBuilder(value, capacity)
showSBInfo sb2

// Instantiate a StringBuilder from substring and define a capacity.
let sb3 = StringBuilder(value, index, value.Length - index, capacity)
showSBInfo sb3

// The example displays the following output:
//    Value: An ordinary string
//    Capacity: 18    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 18
//
//    Value: An ordinary string
//    Capacity: 65,535    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 18
//
//    Value: ordinary string
//    Capacity: 65,535    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 15

Imports System.Text

Module Example8
    Public Sub Main()
        Dim value As String = "An ordinary string"
        Dim index As Integer = value.IndexOf("An ") + 3
        Dim capacity As Integer = &HFFFF

        ' Instantiate a StringBuilder from a string.
        Dim sb1 As New StringBuilder(value)
        ShowSBInfo(sb1)

        ' Instantiate a StringBuilder from string and define a capacity.  
        Dim sb2 As New StringBuilder(value, capacity)
        ShowSBInfo(sb2)

        ' Instantiate a StringBuilder from substring and define a capacity.  
        Dim sb3 As New StringBuilder(value, index,
                                   value.Length - index,
                                   capacity)
        ShowSBInfo(sb3)
    End Sub

    Public Sub ShowSBInfo(sb As StringBuilder)
        Console.WriteLine()
        Console.WriteLine("Value: {0}", sb.ToString())
        For Each prop In sb.GetType().GetProperties
            If prop.GetIndexParameters().Length = 0 Then
                Console.Write("{0}: {1:N0}    ", prop.Name, prop.GetValue(sb))
            End If
        Next
        Console.WriteLine()
    End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'    Value: An ordinary string
'    Capacity: 18    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 18
'    
'    Value: An ordinary string
'    Capacity: 65,535    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 18
'    
'    Value: ordinary string
'    Capacity: 65,535    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 15

Call StringBuilder methods

Most of the methods that modify the string in a StringBuilder instance return a reference to that same instance. This enables you to call StringBuilder methods in two ways:

• You can make individual method calls and ignore the return value, as the following example does.

  using System;
  using System.Text;
  
  public class Example
  {
     public static void Main()
     {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        sb.Append("This is the beginning of a sentence, ");
        sb.Replace("the beginning of ", "");
        sb.Insert(sb.ToString().IndexOf("a ") + 2, "complete ");
        sb.Replace(",", ".");
        Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
     }
  }
  // The example displays the following output:
  //        This is a complete sentence.
  

  open System.Text
  
  let sb = StringBuilder()
  sb.Append "This is the beginning of a sentence, " |> ignore
  sb.Replace("the beginning of ", "") |> ignore
  sb.Insert((string sb).IndexOf "a " + 2, "complete ") |> ignore
  sb.Replace(",", ".") |> ignore
  printfn $"{sb}"
  // The example displays the following output:
  //        This is a complete sentence.
  

  Imports System.Text
  
  Module Example2
      Public Sub Main()
          Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
          sb.Append("This is the beginning of a sentence, ")
          sb.Replace("the beginning of ", "")
          sb.Insert(sb.ToString().IndexOf("a ") + 2, "complete ")
          sb.Replace(",", ".")
          Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString())
      End Sub
  End Module
  ' The example displays the following output:
  '       This is a complete sentence.
  

• You can make a series of method calls in a single statement. This can be convenient if you want to write a single statement that chains successive operations. The following example consolidates three method calls from the previous example into a single line of code.

  using System;
  using System.Text;
  
  public class Example2
  {
      public static void Main()
      {
          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("This is the beginning of a sentence, ");
          sb.Replace("the beginning of ", "").Insert(sb.ToString().IndexOf("a ") + 2,
                                                     "complete ").Replace(",", ".");
          Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
      }
  }
  // The example displays the following output:
  //        This is a complete sentence.
  

  open System.Text
  
  let sb = StringBuilder "This is the beginning of a sentence, "
  
  sb
      .Replace("the beginning of ", "")
      .Insert((string sb).IndexOf "a " + 2, "complete ")
      .Replace(",", ".")
  |> ignore
  
  printfn $"{sb}"
  // The example displays the following output:
  //        This is a complete sentence.
  

  Imports System.Text
  
  Module Example3
      Public Sub Main()
          Dim sb As New StringBuilder("This is the beginning of a sentence, ")
          sb.Replace("the beginning of ", "").Insert(sb.ToString().IndexOf("a ") + 2,
                                                   "complete ").Replace(", ", ".")
          Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString())
      End Sub
  End Module
  ' The example displays the following output:
  '       This is a complete sentence.
  

Perform StringBuilder operations

You can use the methods of the StringBuilder class to iterate, add, delete, or modify characters in a StringBuilder object.

Iterate StringBuilder characters

You can access the characters in a StringBuilder object by using the StringBuilder.Chars[] property. In C#, Chars[] is an indexer; in Visual Basic, it is the default property of the StringBuilder class. This enables you to set or retrieve individual characters by using their index only, without explicitly referencing the Chars[] property. Characters in a StringBuilder object begin at index 0 (zero) and continue to index Length - 1.

The following example illustrates the Chars[] property. It appends ten random numbers to a StringBuilder object, and then iterates each character. If the character's Unicode category is UnicodeCategory.DecimalDigitNumber, it decreases the number by 1 (or changes the number to 9 if its value is 0). The example displays the contents of the StringBuilder object both before and after the values of individual characters were changed.

using System;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Text;

public class Example3
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        Random rnd = new Random();
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        // Generate 10 random numbers and store them in a StringBuilder.
        for (int ctr = 0; ctr <= 9; ctr++)
            sb.Append(rnd.Next().ToString("N5"));

        Console.WriteLine("The original string:");
        Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());

        // Decrease each number by one.
        for (int ctr = 0; ctr < sb.Length; ctr++)
        {
            if (Char.GetUnicodeCategory(sb[ctr]) == UnicodeCategory.DecimalDigitNumber)
            {
                int number = (int)Char.GetNumericValue(sb[ctr]);
                number--;
                if (number < 0) number = 9;

                sb[ctr] = number.ToString()[0];
            }
        }
        Console.WriteLine("\nThe new string:");
        Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
    }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//    The original string:
//    1,457,531,530.00000940,522,609.000001,668,113,564.000001,998,992,883.000001,792,660,834.00
//    000101,203,251.000002,051,183,075.000002,066,000,067.000001,643,701,043.000001,702,382,508
//    .00000
//    
//    The new string:
//    0,346,420,429.99999839,411,598.999990,557,002,453.999990,887,881,772.999990,681,559,723.99
//    999090,192,140.999991,940,072,964.999991,955,999,956.999990,532,690,932.999990,691,271,497
//    .99999

open System
open System.Globalization
open System.Text

let rnd = Random()
let sb = new StringBuilder()

// Generate 10 random numbers and store them in a StringBuilder.
for _ = 0 to 9 do
    rnd.Next().ToString "N5" |> sb.Append |> ignore

printfn "The original string:"
printfn $"{sb}"

// Decrease each number by one.
for i = 0 to sb.Length - 1 do
    if Char.GetUnicodeCategory(sb[i]) = UnicodeCategory.DecimalDigitNumber then
        let number = Char.GetNumericValue sb.[i] |> int
        let number = number - 1
        let number = if number < 0 then 9 else number
        sb.[i] <- number.ToString()[0]

printfn "\nThe new string:"
printfn $"{sb}"

// The example displays the following output:
//    The original string:
//    1,457,531,530.00000940,522,609.000001,668,113,564.000001,998,992,883.000001,792,660,834.00
//    000101,203,251.000002,051,183,075.000002,066,000,067.000001,643,701,043.000001,702,382,508
//    .00000
//
//    The new string:
//    0,346,420,429.99999839,411,598.999990,557,002,453.999990,887,881,772.999990,681,559,723.99
//    999090,192,140.999991,940,072,964.999991,955,999,956.999990,532,690,932.999990,691,271,497
//    .99999

Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Text

Module Example4
    Public Sub Main()
        Dim rnd As New Random()
        Dim sb As New StringBuilder()

        ' Generate 10 random numbers and store them in a StringBuilder.
        For ctr As Integer = 0 To 9
            sb.Append(rnd.Next().ToString("N5"))
        Next
        Console.WriteLine("The original string:")
        Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString())
        Console.WriteLine()

        ' Decrease each number by one.
        For ctr As Integer = 0 To sb.Length - 1
            If Char.GetUnicodeCategory(sb(ctr)) = UnicodeCategory.DecimalDigitNumber Then
                Dim number As Integer = CType(Char.GetNumericValue(sb(ctr)), Integer)
                number -= 1
                If number < 0 Then number = 9

                sb(ctr) = number.ToString()(0)
            End If
        Next
        Console.WriteLine("The new string:")
        Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString())
    End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'    The original string:
'    1,457,531,530.00000940,522,609.000001,668,113,564.000001,998,992,883.000001,792,660,834.00
'    000101,203,251.000002,051,183,075.000002,066,000,067.000001,643,701,043.000001,702,382,508
'    .00000
'    
'    The new string:
'    0,346,420,429.99999839,411,598.999990,557,002,453.999990,887,881,772.999990,681,559,723.99
'    999090,192,140.999991,940,072,964.999991,955,999,956.999990,532,690,932.999990,691,271,497
'    .99999

Using character-based indexing with the Chars[] property can be extremely slow under the following conditions:

• The StringBuilder instance is large (for example, it consists of several tens of thousands of characters).
• The StringBuilder is "chunky." That is, repeated calls to methods such as StringBuilder.Append have automatically expanded the object's StringBuilder.Capacity property and allocated new chunks of memory to it.

Performance is severely impacted because each character access walks the entire linked list of chunks to find the correct buffer to index into.

If you encounter performance issues when using character-based indexing with StringBuilder objects, you can use any of the following workarounds:

• Convert the StringBuilder instance to a String by calling the ToString method, then access the characters in the string.

• Copy the contents of the existing StringBuilder object to a new pre-sized StringBuilder object. Performance improves because the new StringBuilder object is not chunky. For example:

  // sbOriginal is the existing StringBuilder object
  var sbNew = new StringBuilder(sbOriginal.ToString(), sbOriginal.Length);
  

  ' sbOriginal is the existing StringBuilder object
  Dim sbNew = New StringBuilder(sbOriginal.ToString(), sbOriginal.Length)
  

• Set the initial capacity of the StringBuilder object to a value that is approximately equal to its maximum expected size by calling the StringBuilder(Int32) constructor. Note that this allocates the entire block of memory even if the StringBuilder rarely reaches its maximum capacity.

Add text to a StringBuilder object

The StringBuilder class includes the following methods for expanding the contents of a StringBuilder object:

• The Append method appends a string, a substring, a character array, a portion of a character array, a single character repeated multiple times, or the string representation of a primitive data type to a StringBuilder object.

• The AppendLine method appends a line terminator or a string along with a line terminator to a StringBuilder object.

• The AppendFormat method appends a composite format string to a StringBuilder object. The string representations of objects included in the result string can reflect the formatting conventions of the current system culture or a specified culture.

• The Insert method inserts a string, a substring, multiple repetitions of a string, a character array, a portion of a character array, or the string representation of a primitive data type at a specified position in the StringBuilder object. The position is defined by a zero-based index.

The following example uses the Append, AppendLine, AppendFormat, and Insert methods to expand the text of a StringBuilder object.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class Example6
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Create a StringBuilder object with no text.
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        // Append some text.
        sb.Append('*', 10).Append(" Adding Text to a StringBuilder Object ").Append('*', 10);
        sb.AppendLine("\n");
        sb.AppendLine("Some code points and their corresponding characters:");
        // Append some formatted text.
        for (int ctr = 50; ctr <= 60; ctr++)
        {
            sb.AppendFormat("{0,12:X4} {1,12}", ctr, Convert.ToChar(ctr));
            sb.AppendLine();
        }
        // Find the end of the introduction to the column.
        int pos = sb.ToString().IndexOf("characters:") + 11 +
                  Environment.NewLine.Length;
        // Insert a column header.
        sb.Insert(pos, String.Format("{2}{0,12:X4} {1,12}{2}", "Code Unit",
                                     "Character", "\n"));

        // Convert the StringBuilder to a string and display it.      
        Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
    }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//    ********** Adding Text to a StringBuilder Object **********
//    
//    Some code points and their corresponding characters:
//    
//       Code Unit    Character
//            0032            2
//            0033            3
//            0034            4
//            0035            5
//            0036            6
//            0037            7
//            0038            8
//            0039            9
//            003A            :
//            003B            ;
//            003C            <

open System
open System.Text

// Create a StringBuilder object with no text.
let sb = StringBuilder()
// Append some text.
sb
    .Append('*', 10)
    .Append(" Adding Text to a StringBuilder Object ")
    .Append('*', 10)
|> ignore

sb.AppendLine "\n" |> ignore
sb.AppendLine "Some code points and their corresponding characters:" |> ignore
// Append some formatted text.
for i = 50 to 60 do
    sb.AppendFormat("{0,12:X4} {1,12}", i, Convert.ToChar i) |> ignore
    sb.AppendLine() |> ignore

// Find the end of the introduction to the column.
let pos = (string sb).IndexOf("characters:") + 11 + Environment.NewLine.Length
// Insert a column header.
sb.Insert(pos, String.Format("{2}{0,12:X4} {1,12}{2}", "Code Unit", "Character", "\n"))
|> ignore

// Convert the StringBuilder to a string and display it.
printfn $"{sb}"


// The example displays the following output:
//    ********** Adding Text to a StringBuilder Object **********
//
//    Some code points and their corresponding characters:
//
//       Code Unit    Character
//            0032            2
//            0033            3
//            0034            4
//            0035            5
//            0036            6
//            0037            7
//            0038            8
//            0039            9
//            003A            :
//            003B            ;
//            003C            <

Imports System.Text

Module Example7
    Public Sub Main()
        ' Create a StringBuilder object with no text.
        Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
        ' Append some text.
        sb.Append("*"c, 10).Append(" Adding Text to a StringBuilder Object ").Append("*"c, 10)
        sb.AppendLine()
        sb.AppendLine()
        sb.AppendLine("Some code points and their corresponding characters:")
        ' Append some formatted text.
        For ctr = 50 To 60
            sb.AppendFormat("{0,12:X4} {1,12}", ctr, Convert.ToChar(ctr))
            sb.AppendLine()
        Next
        ' Find the end of the introduction to the column.
        Dim pos As Integer = sb.ToString().IndexOf("characters:") + 11 +
                           Environment.NewLine.Length
        ' Insert a column header.
        sb.Insert(pos, String.Format("{2}{0,12:X4} {1,12}{2}", "Code Unit",
                                   "Character", vbCrLf))

        ' Convert the StringBuilder to a string and display it.      
        Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString())
    End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'       ********** Adding Text to a StringBuilder Object **********
'       
'       Some code points and their corresponding characters:
'       
'          Code Unit    Character
'               0032            2
'               0033            3
'               0034            4
'               0035            5
'               0036            6
'               0037            7
'               0038            8
'               0039            9
'               003A            :
'               003B            ;
'               003C            <

Delete text from a StringBuilder object

The StringBuilder class includes methods that can reduce the size of the current StringBuilder instance. The Clear method removes all characters and sets the Length property to zero. The Remove method deletes a specified number of characters starting at a particular index position. In addition, you can remove characters from the end of a StringBuilder object by setting its Length property to a value that is less than the length of the current instance.

The following example removes some of the text from a StringBuilder object, displays its resulting capacity, maximum capacity, and length property values, and then calls the Clear method to remove all the characters from the StringBuilder object.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class Example5
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("A StringBuilder object");
        ShowSBInfo(sb);
        // Remove "object" from the text.
        string textToRemove = "object";
        int pos = sb.ToString().IndexOf(textToRemove);
        if (pos >= 0)
        {
            sb.Remove(pos, textToRemove.Length);
            ShowSBInfo(sb);
        }
        // Clear the StringBuilder contents.
        sb.Clear();
        ShowSBInfo(sb);
    }

    public static void ShowSBInfo(StringBuilder sb)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("\nValue: {0}", sb.ToString());
        foreach (var prop in sb.GetType().GetProperties())
        {
            if (prop.GetIndexParameters().Length == 0)
                Console.Write("{0}: {1:N0}    ", prop.Name, prop.GetValue(sb));
        }
        Console.WriteLine();
    }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//    Value: A StringBuilder object
//    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 22
//    
//    Value: A StringBuilder
//    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 16
//    
//    Value:
//    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 0

open System.Text

let showSBInfo (sb: StringBuilder) =
    for prop in sb.GetType().GetProperties() do
        if prop.GetIndexParameters().Length = 0 then
            printf $"{prop.Name}: {prop.GetValue sb:N0}    "

    printfn ""

let sb = StringBuilder "A StringBuilder object"
showSBInfo sb
// Remove "object" from the text.
let textToRemove = "object"
let pos = (string sb).IndexOf textToRemove

if pos >= 0 then
    sb.Remove(pos, textToRemove.Length) |> ignore
    showSBInfo sb

// Clear the StringBuilder contents.
sb.Clear() |> ignore
showSBInfo sb

// The example displays the following output:
//    Value: A StringBuilder object
//    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 22
//
//    Value: A StringBuilder
//    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 16
//
//    Value:
//    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 0

Imports System.Text

Module Example6
    Public Sub Main()
        Dim sb As New StringBuilder("A StringBuilder object")
        ShowSBInfo(sb)
        ' Remove "object" from the text.
        Dim textToRemove As String = "object"
        Dim pos As Integer = sb.ToString().IndexOf(textToRemove)
        If pos >= 0 Then
            sb.Remove(pos, textToRemove.Length)
            ShowSBInfo(sb)
        End If
        ' Clear the StringBuilder contents.
        sb.Clear()
        ShowSBInfo(sb)
    End Sub

    Public Sub ShowSBInfo(sb As StringBuilder)
        Console.WriteLine()
        Console.WriteLine("Value: {0}", sb.ToString())
        For Each prop In sb.GetType().GetProperties
            If prop.GetIndexParameters().Length = 0 Then
                Console.Write("{0}: {1:N0}    ", prop.Name, prop.GetValue(sb))
            End If
        Next
        Console.WriteLine()
    End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'    Value: A StringBuilder object
'    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 22
'    
'    Value: A StringBuilder
'    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 16
'    
'    Value:
'    Capacity: 22    MaxCapacity: 2,147,483,647    Length: 0

Modify the text in a StringBuilder object

The StringBuilder.Replace method replaces all occurrences of a character or a string in the entire StringBuilder object or in a particular character range. The following example uses the Replace method to replace all exclamation points (!) with question marks (?) in the StringBuilder object.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class Example13
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        StringBuilder MyStringBuilder = new StringBuilder("Hello World!");
        MyStringBuilder.Replace('!', '?');
        Console.WriteLine(MyStringBuilder);
    }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//       Hello World?

open System.Text

let myStringBuilder = StringBuilder "Hello World!"
myStringBuilder.Replace('!', '?') |> ignore
printfn $"{myStringBuilder}"

// The example displays the following output:
//       Hello World?

Imports System.Text

Module Example
   Public Sub Main()
      Dim MyStringBuilder As New StringBuilder("Hello World!")
      MyStringBuilder.Replace("!"c, "?"c)
      Console.WriteLine(MyStringBuilder)
   End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'       Hello World?

Search the text in a StringBuilder object

The StringBuilder class does not include methods similar to the String.Contains, String.IndexOf, and String.StartsWith methods provided by the String class, which allow you to search the object for a particular character or a substring. Determining the presence or starting character position of a substring requires that you search a String value by using either a string search method or a regular expression method. There are four ways to implement such searches, as the following table shows.

Let's examine these techniques in greater detail.

• If the goal of the search is to determine whether a particular substring exists (that is, if you aren't interested in the position of the substring), you can search strings before storing them in the StringBuilder object. The following example provides one possible implementation. It defines a StringBuilderFinder class whose constructor is passed a reference to a StringBuilder object and the substring to find in the string. In this case, the example tries to determine whether recorded temperatures are in Fahrenheit or Celsius, and adds the appropriate introductory text to the beginning of the StringBuilder object. A random number generator is used to select an array that contains data in either degrees Celsius or degrees Fahrenheit.

  using System;
  using System.Text;
  
  public class Example9
  {
      public static void Main()
      {
          Random rnd = new Random();
          string[] tempF = { "47.6F", "51.3F", "49.5F", "62.3F" };
          string[] tempC = { "21.2C", "16.1C", "23.5C", "22.9C" };
          string[][] temps = { tempF, tempC };
  
          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
          var f = new StringBuilderFinder(sb, "F");
          var baseDate = new DateTime(2013, 5, 1);
          String[] temperatures = temps[rnd.Next(2)];
          bool isFahrenheit = false;
          foreach (var temperature in temperatures)
          {
              if (isFahrenheit)
                  sb.AppendFormat("{0:d}: {1}\n", baseDate, temperature);
              else
                  isFahrenheit = f.SearchAndAppend(String.Format("{0:d}: {1}\n",
                                                   baseDate, temperature));
              baseDate = baseDate.AddDays(1);
          }
          if (isFahrenheit)
          {
              sb.Insert(0, "Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Fahrenheit");
              sb.Insert(47, "\n\n");
          }
          else
          {
              sb.Insert(0, "Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Celsius");
              sb.Insert(44, "\n\n");
          }
          Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
      }
  }
  
  public class StringBuilderFinder
  {
      private StringBuilder sb;
      private String text;
  
      public StringBuilderFinder(StringBuilder sb, String textToFind)
      {
          this.sb = sb;
          this.text = textToFind;
      }
  
      public bool SearchAndAppend(String stringToSearch)
      {
          sb.Append(stringToSearch);
          return stringToSearch.Contains(text);
      }
  }
  // The example displays output similar to the following:
  //    Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Celsius
  //    
  //    5/1/2013: 21.2C
  //    5/2/2013: 16.1C
  //    5/3/2013: 23.5C
  //    5/4/2013: 22.9C
  

  open System
  open System.Text
  
  type StringBuilderFinder(sb: StringBuilder, textToFind: string) =
      member _.SearchAndAppend(stringToSearch: string) =
          sb.Append stringToSearch |> ignore
          stringToSearch.Contains textToFind
  
  let tempF = [| "47.6F"; "51.3F"; "49.5F"; "62.3F" |]
  let tempC = [| "21.2C"; "16.1C"; "23.5C"; "22.9C" |]
  let temps = [| tempF; tempC |]
  
  let sb = StringBuilder()
  let f = StringBuilderFinder(sb, "F")
  let temperatures = temps[Random.Shared.Next(2)]
  let mutable baseDate = DateTime(2013, 5, 1)
  let mutable isFahrenheit = false
  
  for temperature in temperatures do
      if isFahrenheit then
          sb.AppendFormat("{0:d}: {1}\n", baseDate, temperature) |> ignore
      else
          isFahrenheit <- $"{baseDate:d}: {temperature}\n" |> f.SearchAndAppend
  
      baseDate <- baseDate.AddDays 1
  
  if isFahrenheit then
      sb.Insert(0, "Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Fahrenheit") |> ignore
      sb.Insert(47, "\n\n") |> ignore
  
  else
      sb.Insert(0, "Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Celsius") |> ignore
      sb.Insert(44, "\n\n") |> ignore
  
  printfn $"{sb}"
  
  // The example displays output similar to the following:
  //    Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Celsius
  //
  //    5/1/2013: 21.2C
  //    5/2/2013: 16.1C
  //    5/3/2013: 23.5C
  //    5/4/2013: 22.9C
  

  Imports System.Text
  
  Module Example9
      Public Sub Main()
          Dim rnd As New Random()
          Dim tempF() As String = {"47.6F", "51.3F", "49.5F", "62.3F"}
          Dim tempC() As String = {"21.2C", "16.1C", "23.5C", "22.9C"}
          Dim temps()() As String = {tempF, tempC}
  
          Dim sb As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()
          Dim f As New StringBuilderFinder(sb, "F")
          Dim baseDate As New DateTime(2013, 5, 1)
          Dim temperatures() As String = temps(rnd.Next(2))
          Dim isFahrenheit As Boolean = False
          For Each temperature In temperatures
              If isFahrenheit Then
                  sb.AppendFormat("{0:d}: {1}{2}", baseDate, temperature, vbCrLf)
              Else
                  isFahrenheit = f.SearchAndAppend(String.Format("{0:d}: {1}{2}",
                                               baseDate, temperature, vbCrLf))
              End If
              baseDate = baseDate.AddDays(1)
          Next
          If isFahrenheit Then
              sb.Insert(0, "Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Fahrenheit")
              sb.Insert(47, vbCrLf + vbCrLf)
          Else
              sb.Insert(0, "Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Celsius")
              sb.Insert(44, vbCrLf + vbCrLf)
          End If
          Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString())
      End Sub
  End Module
  
  Public Class StringBuilderFinder
     Private sb As StringBuilder
     Private text As String
     
     Public Sub New(sb As StringBuilder, textToFind As String)
        Me.sb = sb
        text = textToFind
     End Sub
     
     Public Function SearchAndAppend(stringToSearch As String) As Boolean
        sb.Append(stringToSearch)
        Return stringToSearch.Contains(text)
     End Function
  End Class
  ' The example displays output similar to the following:
  '    Average Daily Temperature in Degrees Celsius
  '    
  '    5/1/2013: 21.2C
  '    5/2/2013: 16.1C
  '    5/3/2013: 23.5C
  '    5/4/2013: 22.9C
  

• Call the StringBuilder.ToString method to convert the StringBuilder object to a String object. You can search the string by using methods such as String.LastIndexOf or String.StartsWith, or you can use regular expressions and the Regex class to search for patterns. Because both StringBuilder and String objects use UTF-16 encoding to store characters, the index positions of characters, substrings, and regular expression matches are the same in both objects. This enables you to use StringBuilder methods to make changes at the same position at which that text is found in the String object.

  Note

  If you adopt this approach, you should work from the end of the StringBuilder object to its beginning so that you don't have to repeatedly convert the StringBuilder object to a string.

  The following example illustrates this approach. It stores four occurrences of each letter of the English alphabet in a StringBuilder object. It then converts the text to a String object and uses a regular expression to identify the starting position of each four-character sequence. Finally, it adds an underscore before each four-character sequence except for the first sequence, and converts the first character of the sequence to uppercase.

  using System;
  using System.Text;
  using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
  
  public class Example10
  {
      public static void Main()
      {
          // Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences 
          // of each character in the English alphabet. 
          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
          for (ushort ctr = (ushort)'a'; ctr <= (ushort)'z'; ctr++)
              sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(ctr), 4);
  
          // Create a parallel string object.
          String sbString = sb.ToString();
          // Determine where each new character sequence begins.
          String pattern = @"(\w)\1+";
          MatchCollection matches = Regex.Matches(sbString, pattern);
  
          // Uppercase the first occurrence of the sequence, and separate it
          // from the previous sequence by an underscore character.
          for (int ctr = matches.Count - 1; ctr >= 0; ctr--)
          {
              Match m = matches[ctr];
              sb[m.Index] = Char.ToUpper(sb[m.Index]);
              if (m.Index > 0) sb.Insert(m.Index, "_");
          }
          // Display the resulting string.
          sbString = sb.ToString();
          int line = 0;
          do
          {
              int nChars = line * 80 + 79 <= sbString.Length ?
                                  80 : sbString.Length - line * 80;
              Console.WriteLine(sbString.Substring(line * 80, nChars));
              line++;
          } while (line * 80 < sbString.Length);
      }
  }
  // The example displays the following output:
  //    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  //    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

  open System
  open System.Text
  open System.Text.RegularExpressions
  
  // Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences
  // of each character in the English alphabet.
  let sb = StringBuilder()
  
  for char in 'a' .. 'z' do
      sb.Append(char, 4) |> ignore
  
  // Create a parallel string object.
  let sbString = string sb
  // Determine where each new character sequence begins.
  let pattern = @"(\w)\1+"
  let matches = Regex.Matches(sbString, pattern)
  
  // Uppercase the first occurrence of the sequence, and separate it
  // from the previous sequence by an underscore character.
  for i = matches.Count - 1 downto 0 do
      let m = matches[i]
      sb[m.Index] <- Char.ToUpper sb[m.Index]
  
      if m.Index > 0 then
          sb.Insert(m.Index, "_") |> ignore
  
  // Display the resulting string.
  let sbString2 = string sb
  
  for line = 0 to (sbString2.Length - 1) / 80 do
      let nChars =
          if line * 80 + 79 <= sbString2.Length then
              80
          else
              sbString2.Length - line * 80
  
      printfn $"{sbString2.Substring(line * 80, nChars)}"
  
  
  // The example displays the following output:
  //    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  //    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

  Imports System.Text
  Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
  
  Module Example10
      Public Sub Main()
          ' Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences 
          ' of each character in the English alphabet. 
          Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
          For ctr As UShort = AscW("a") To AscW("z")
              sb.Append(ChrW(ctr), 4)
          Next
          ' Create a parallel string object.
          Dim sbString As String = sb.ToString()
          ' Determine where each new character sequence begins.
          Dim pattern As String = "(\w)\1+"
          Dim matches As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(sbString, pattern)
  
          ' Uppercase the first occurrence of the sequence, and separate it
          ' from the previous sequence by an underscore character.
          For ctr As Integer = matches.Count - 1 To 0 Step -1
              Dim m As Match = matches(ctr)
              sb.Chars(m.Index) = Char.ToUpper(sb.Chars(m.Index))
              If m.Index > 0 Then sb.Insert(m.Index, "_")
          Next
          ' Display the resulting string.
          sbString = sb.ToString()
          Dim line As Integer = 0
          Do
              Dim nChars As Integer = If(line * 80 + 79 <= sbString.Length,
                                      80, sbString.Length - line * 80)
              Console.WriteLine(sbString.Substring(line * 80, nChars))
              line += 1
          Loop While line * 80 < sbString.Length
      End Sub
  End Module
  ' The example displays the following output:
  '    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  '    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

• Use the StringBuilder.Chars[] property to sequentially search a range of characters in a StringBuilder object. This approach might not be practical if the number of characters to be searched is large or the search logic is particularly complex. For the performance implications of character-by-character index-based access for very large, chunked StringBuilder objects, see the documentation for the StringBuilder.Chars[] property.

  The following example is identical in functionality to the previous example but differs in implementation. It uses the Chars[] property to detect when a character value has changed, inserts an underscore at that position, and converts the first character in the new sequence to uppercase.

  using System;
  using System.Text;
  
  public class Example11
  {
      public static void Main()
      {
          // Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences 
          // of each character in the English alphabet. 
          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
          for (ushort ctr = (ushort)'a'; ctr <= (ushort)'z'; ctr++)
              sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(ctr), 4);
  
          // Iterate the text to determine when a new character sequence occurs.
          int position = 0;
          Char current = '\u0000';
          do
          {
              if (sb[position] != current)
              {
                  current = sb[position];
                  sb[position] = Char.ToUpper(sb[position]);
                  if (position > 0)
                      sb.Insert(position, "_");
                  position += 2;
              }
              else
              {
                  position++;
              }
          } while (position <= sb.Length - 1);
          // Display the resulting string.
          String sbString = sb.ToString();
          int line = 0;
          do
          {
              int nChars = line * 80 + 79 <= sbString.Length ?
                                  80 : sbString.Length - line * 80;
              Console.WriteLine(sbString.Substring(line * 80, nChars));
              line++;
          } while (line * 80 < sbString.Length);
      }
  }
  // The example displays the following output:
  //    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  //    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

  open System
  open System.Text
  
  // Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences
  // of each character in the English alphabet.
  let sb = StringBuilder()
  
  for char in 'a' .. 'z' do
      sb.Append(char, 4) |> ignore
  
  // Iterate the text to determine when a new character sequence occurs.
  let mutable position = 0
  let mutable current = '\u0000'
  
  while position <= sb.Length - 1 do
      if sb[position] <> current then
          current <- sb[position]
          sb[position] <- Char.ToUpper sb[position]
  
          if position > 0 then
              sb.Insert(position, "_") |> ignore
  
          position <- position + 2
  
      else
          position <- position + 1
  
  // Display the resulting string.
  let sbString = string sb
  
  for line = 0 to (sbString.Length - 1) / 80 do
      let nChars =
          if line * 80 + 79 <= sbString.Length then
              80
          else
              sbString.Length - line * 80
  
      printfn $"{sbString.Substring(line * 80, nChars)}"
  
  // The example displays the following output:
  //    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  //    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

  Imports System.Text
  
  Module Example11
      Public Sub Main()
          ' Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences 
          ' of each character in the English alphabet. 
          Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
          For ctr As UShort = AscW("a") To AscW("z")
              sb.Append(ChrW(ctr), 4)
          Next
          ' Iterate the text to determine when a new character sequence occurs.
          Dim position As Integer = 0
          Dim current As Char = ChrW(0)
          Do
              If sb(position) <> current Then
                  current = sb(position)
                  sb(position) = Char.ToUpper(sb(position))
                  If position > 0 Then sb.Insert(position, "_")
                  position += 2
              Else
                  position += 1
              End If
          Loop While position <= sb.Length - 1
          ' Display the resulting string.
          Dim sbString As String = sb.ToString()
          Dim line As Integer = 0
          Do
              Dim nChars As Integer = If(line * 80 + 79 <= sbString.Length,
                                      80, sbString.Length - line * 80)
              Console.WriteLine(sbString.Substring(line * 80, nChars))
              line += 1
          Loop While line * 80 < sbString.Length
      End Sub
  End Module
  ' The example displays the following output:
  '    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  '    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

• Store all the unmodified text in the StringBuilder object, call the StringBuilder.ToString method to convert the StringBuilder object to a String object, and perform the modifications on the String object. You can use this approach if you have only a few modifications; otherwise, the cost of working with immutable strings might negate the performance benefits of using a StringBuilder object.

  The following example is identical in functionality to the previous two examples but differs in implementation. It creates a StringBuilder object, converts it to a String object, and then uses a regular expression to perform all remaining modifications on the string. The Regex.Replace(String, String, MatchEvaluator) method uses a lambda expression to perform the replacement on each match.

  using System;
  using System.Text;
  using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
  
  public class Example12
  {
      public static void Main()
      {
          // Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences 
          // of each character in the English alphabet. 
          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
          for (ushort ctr = (ushort)'a'; ctr <= (ushort)'z'; ctr++)
              sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(ctr), 4);
  
          // Convert it to a string.
          String sbString = sb.ToString();
  
          // Use a regex to uppercase the first occurrence of the sequence, 
          // and separate it from the previous sequence by an underscore.
          string pattern = @"(\w)(\1+)";
          sbString = Regex.Replace(sbString, pattern,
                                   m => (m.Index > 0 ? "_" : "") +
                                   m.Groups[1].Value.ToUpper() +
                                   m.Groups[2].Value);
  
          // Display the resulting string.
          int line = 0;
          do
          {
              int nChars = line * 80 + 79 <= sbString.Length ?
                                  80 : sbString.Length - line * 80;
              Console.WriteLine(sbString.Substring(line * 80, nChars));
              line++;
          } while (line * 80 < sbString.Length);
      }
  }
  // The example displays the following output:
  //    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  //    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

  open System.Text
  open System.Text.RegularExpressions
  
  // Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences
  // of each character in the English alphabet.
  let sb = StringBuilder()
  
  for char in 'a' .. 'z' do
      sb.Append(char, 4) |> ignore
  
  // Convert it to a string.
  let sbString = string sb
  
  // Use a regex to uppercase the first occurrence of the sequence,
  // and separate it from the previous sequence by an underscore.
  let pattern = @"(\w)(\1+)"
  
  let sbStringReplaced =
      Regex.Replace(
          sbString,
          pattern,
          fun m ->
              (if m.Index > 0 then "_" else "")
              + m.Groups[ 1 ].Value.ToUpper()
              + m.Groups[2].Value
      )
  
  // Display the resulting string.
  for line = 0 to (sbStringReplaced.Length - 1) / 80 do
      let nChars =
          if line * 80 + 79 <= sbStringReplaced.Length then
              80
          else
              sbStringReplaced.Length - line * 80
  
      printfn $"{sbStringReplaced.Substring(line * 80, nChars)}"
  
  // The example displays the following output:
  //    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  //    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

  Imports System.Text
  Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
  
  Module Example12
      Public Sub Main()
          ' Create a StringBuilder object with 4 successive occurrences 
          ' of each character in the English alphabet. 
          Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
          For ctr As UShort = AscW("a") To AscW("z")
              sb.Append(ChrW(ctr), 4)
          Next
          ' Convert it to a string.
          Dim sbString As String = sb.ToString()
  
          ' Use a regex to uppercase the first occurrence of the sequence, 
          ' and separate it from the previous sequence by an underscore.
          Dim pattern As String = "(\w)(\1+)"
          sbString = Regex.Replace(sbString, pattern,
                                 Function(m) If(m.Index > 0, "_", "") +
                                             m.Groups(1).Value.ToUpper +
                                             m.Groups(2).Value)
  
          ' Display the resulting string.
          Dim line As Integer = 0
          Do
              Dim nChars As Integer = If(line * 80 + 79 <= sbString.Length,
                                      80, sbString.Length - line * 80)
              Console.WriteLine(sbString.Substring(line * 80, nChars))
              line += 1
          Loop While line * 80 < sbString.Length
      End Sub
  End Module
  ' The example displays the following output:
  '    Aaaa_Bbbb_Cccc_Dddd_Eeee_Ffff_Gggg_Hhhh_Iiii_Jjjj_Kkkk_Llll_Mmmm_Nnnn_Oooo_Pppp_
  '    Qqqq_Rrrr_Ssss_Tttt_Uuuu_Vvvv_Wwww_Xxxx_Yyyy_Zzzz
  

Convert the StringBuilder object to a string

You must convert the StringBuilder object to a String object before you can pass the string represented by the StringBuilder object to a method that has a String parameter or display it in the user interface. You perform this conversion by calling the StringBuilder.ToString method. For an illustration, see the previous example, which calls the ToString method to convert a StringBuilder object to a string so that it can be passed to a regular expression method.