String.Format with null values C#

Question

I want to format an address. Here is my code:

address = String.Format("{0}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}, {6}",
                        postalAddress.Line1,
                        postalAddress.Line2,
                        postalAddress.Line3,
                        postalAddress.Line4,
                        postalAddress.Suburb,
                        postalAddress.StateCode,
                        postalAddress.Pcode);

Unfortunately this produces 116 Knox St, , , , Watson, ACT, 2602 when Line2, Line3, Line4 are null. How can I handle the nulls to get a results like 116 Knox St, Watson, ACT, 2602?

StringBuilder + if ?

zerkms
– zerkms

2013-12-12 00:26:00 +00:00
Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 0:26 — zerkms
– zerkms, Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 0:26
Can you please elaborate?

user2994641
– user2994641

2013-12-12 00:27:12 +00:00
Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 0:27 — user2994641
– user2994641, Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 0:27
do you know what the StringBuilder is? How about if?

zerkms
– zerkms

2013-12-12 00:27:57 +00:00
Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 0:27 — zerkms
– zerkms, Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 0:27

Filip Ekberg · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-12 00:44:10Z

12

Looks like this accomplishes your purpose much more concisely.

string[] data = new[] { 
    postalAddress.Line1, 
    postalAddress.Line2, 
    postalAddress.Line3, 
    postalAddress.Line4, 
    postalAddress.Suburb, 
    postalAddress.StateCode, 
    postalAddress.Pcode 
};

string address = string.Join(", ", 
                             data.Where(e => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(e));

edited Dec 12, 2013 at 0:44

Filip Ekberg

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answered Dec 12, 2013 at 0:38

McAden

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Comments

p.s.w.g · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-12 00:38:01Z

1

Here you go. This is not going to be very efficient but should work ;)

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
List<string> addressParts = new List<string> { postalAddress.Line1, postalAddress.Line2, postalAddress.Line3, postalAddress.Line4, postalAddress.Suburb, postalAddress.StateCode, postalAddress.Pcode };
addressParts.ForEach(x => sb.Append(String.IsNullOrEmpty(x) ? "" : ", " + x));
string address = sb.ToString().Trim(',');

edited Dec 12, 2013 at 0:38

p.s.w.g

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answered Dec 12, 2013 at 0:32

AFrieze

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Comments

Filip Ekberg · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-12 00:42:10Z

I'd recommend McAden solution, it's elegant and solves your problem nicely. Stated below is one option on how to use the StringBuilder, it's very verbose compared to the others.

As stated in the comments you can use the StringBuilder and a series of if statements. Thsi code can be cleaned up nicely but to let you play with it and understand what is going on, here is an example:

var postalAddress = new {
    Line1 = "116 Knox St",
    Line2 = "",
    Line3 = "",
    Line4 = "",
    Suburb = "Watson",
    StateCode = "ACT",
    Pcode = "2602",
};
var builder = new StringBuilder();

builder.AppendFormat("{0}, ", postalAddress.Line1);

if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(postalAddress.Line2))
{
    builder.AppendFormat("{0}, ", postalAddress.Line2);
}
if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(postalAddress.Line3))
{
    builder.AppendFormat("{0}, ", postalAddress.Line3);
}
if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(postalAddress.Line4))
{
    builder.AppendFormat("{0}, ", postalAddress.Line4);
}

builder.AppendFormat("{0}, ", postalAddress.Suburb);
builder.AppendFormat("{0}, ", postalAddress.StateCode);
builder.AppendFormat("{0}", postalAddress.Pcode);

var result = builder.ToString();

When you print the result variable you will now have the following result:

116 Knox St, Watson, ACT, 2602

Basically you can use AppendFormat to append the string in a formatted manner and you can experiment and play around with this until it behaves as you like, then you can refactor it to be a bunch less lines thane this!

Nattrass · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-09 09:26:47Z

0

What about a one liner Regex to remove the duplicate , and spaces.

address = String.Format("{0}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}, {6}",
                        postalAddress.Line1,
                        postalAddress.Line2,
                        postalAddress.Line3,
                        postalAddress.Line4,
                        postalAddress.Suburb,
                        postalAddress.StateCode,
                        postalAddress.Pcode);

address = Regex.Replace(address, @"(,\s)+", @"$1");

answered Sep 9, 2017 at 9:26

Nattrass

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