String interpolation is a powerful feature that allows you to embed expressions directly within string literals. Commonly referred to as variable substitution or expansion, it enables seamless integration of values into strings by replacing placeholders with corresponding values. This approach improves code readability and reduces the need for manual concatenation, making your code cleaner and more maintainable.
Many modern programming languages, including Python, PHP, Ruby, and Java, support string interpolation. In C#, this feature was introduced in version 6. Since then, it has become a cornerstone for handling strings dynamically and effectively. This article explores how to utilize string interpolation in C# 9, providing practical examples and explanations.
To follow along with the examples in this article, ensure you have Visual Studio 2019 installed on your system. If not, you can download it from the official website. Once installed, create a .NET Core console application by selecting “Console App (.NET Core)” from the project templates in Visual Studio. This application will serve as the foundation for experimenting with string interpolation techniques.
In C#, an interpolated string is structured as a literal string that incorporates interpolation expressions. These expressions, enclosed in curly braces ({}
), are dynamically evaluated and replaced with their respective string representations during runtime. This functionality simplifies the creation of complex strings by allowing direct integration of variables and expressions, a feature that we will demonstrate in detail in the sections to follow.