Can maximum number of characters be defined in C# format strings like in C printf?

Question

Didn\'t find how to do that. What I found was more or less on the lines of this (http://blog.stevex.net/string-formatting-in-csharp/):

There really isn’t any formatt

Answer 1

This is not an answer on how to use string.format, but another way of shortening a string using extension methods. This way enables you to add the max length to the string directly, even without string.format.

public static class ExtensionMethods
{
    /// 

    ///  Shortens string to Max length
    /// 
    /// String to shortent
    /// shortened string
    public static string MaxLength(this string input, int length)
    {
        if (input == null) return null;
        return input.Substring(0, Math.Min(length, input.Length));
    }
}

sample usage:

string Test = "1234567890";
string.Format("Shortened String = {0}", Test.MaxLength(5));
string.Format("Shortened String = {0}", Test.MaxLength(50));

Output: 
Shortened String = 12345
Shortened String = 1234567890