Strings

Text in C# is handled by the string type. It's everywhere — names, messages, file paths, you name it. Let's look at the basics.

Declaring Strings

A string is a sequence of characters wrapped in double quotes. Strings are reference types, but they behave a lot like you'd expect.

using System;

class Program {
  static void Main() {
    string name = "Alice";
    Console.WriteLine(name);
  }
}
    

Concatenation

Combine strings with the + operator. Simple and straightforward.

using System;

class Program {
  static void Main() {
    string first = "Hello";
    string second = "World";
    string result = first + " " + second;
    Console.WriteLine(result);
  }
}
    

String Interpolation

With interpolation, you embed expressions directly into a string using $"..." and {}. Much cleaner than mashing things together with +.

using System;

class Program {
  static void Main() {
    string name = "Bob";
    int age = 28;
    Console.WriteLine($"My name is {name} and I'm {age} years old.");
  }
}
    

Verbatim Strings

Prefix a string with @ to get a verbatim string. Escape sequences like \n are ignored, and backslashes become literal. Perfect for file paths.

using System;

class Program {
  static void Main() {
    string path = @"C:\Users\Alice\Documents";
    Console.WriteLine(path);
    
    string multi = @"First line
Second line
Third line";
    Console.WriteLine(multi);
  }
}
    

String Equality

Compare strings with ==. In C#, == compares the actual content, not memory references — unlike some other languages.

using System;

class Program {
  static void Main() {
    string a = "hello";
    string b = "hello";
    Console.WriteLine(a == b);
  }
}