Centering text in C# console app only working with some input

Question

I am having a problem with centering text in a C#.NET4 console app.

This is my method for centering the text:

private static void centerText(String text)
{
    int winWidth = (Console.WindowWidth / 2);
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0,"+winWidth+"}", text));
}

However, I just get the output as it would have been outputted normally. If I however use this line:

Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0,"+winWidth+"}", "text"));

The "text" gets centered as it should.

I am calling centerText with these two methods:

private static void drawStars()
{
    centerText("*********************************************");
}
private static void title(string location)
{
    drawStars();
    centerText("+++ Du er nu her: " + location + "! +++");
    drawStars();
}

Answer 1

Try this instead:

private static void centerText(String text)
{
    Console.Write(new string(' ', (Console.WindowWidth - text.Length) / 2));
    Console.WriteLine(text);
}

The problem with your initial code was that your text starts in the screen center. You want the center of the text to be there.

You're going to do a bit more work if you want to print entire paragraphs centered like this.

Answer 2

The text passed in may have whitespace such as \r\n, then remove that before calling the write such as

string textClean = Regex.Replace(text, @"([\r\n])", string.Empty);

// Then center on text clean 

Answer 3

I have my own method for calling console headers:

public static void Header(string title, string subtitle = "", ConsoleColor color = ConsoleColor.White)
{
    int windowWidth = 90 - 2;
    string titleContent = String.Format("║{0," + ((windowWidth / 2) + (title.Length / 2)) + "}{1," + (windowWidth - (windowWidth / 2) - (title.Length / 2) + 1) + "}", title, "║");
    string subtitleContent = String.Format("║{0," + ((windowWidth / 2) + (subtitle.Length / 2)) + "}{1," + (windowWidth - (windowWidth / 2) - (subtitle.Length / 2) + 1) + "}", subtitle, "║");

    Console.WriteLine("╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗");
    Console.WriteLine(titleContent);
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(subtitle))
    {
        Console.WriteLine(subtitleContent);
    }
    Console.WriteLine("╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝");
}

Then you call it like this YourStaticClass.Header("Test", "Version 1.0");

it should look like this:

╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║                                          Test                                          ║
║                                      Version 1.0                                       ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

You can replace the 90 in windowsWidth with Console.WindowWidth

UPDATE - February 2019 - code cleaned and made dynamic size

/// <summary>
/// Application header, also sets the console title
/// </summary>
/// <param name="title">Title of application</param>
/// <param name="subtitle">Subtitle of application</param>
/// <param name="foreGroundColor">Foreground color</param>
public static void Header(string title, string subtitle = "", ConsoleColor foreGroundColor = ConsoleColor.White, int windowWidthSize = 90)
{
    Console.Title = title + (subtitle != "" ? " - " + subtitle : "");
    string titleContent = CenterText(title, "║");
    string subtitleContent = CenterText(subtitle, "║");
    string borderLine = new String('═', windowWidthSize - 2);

    Console.ForegroundColor = foreGroundColor;
    Console.WriteLine($"╔{borderLine}╗");
    Console.WriteLine(titleContent);
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(subtitle))
    {
        Console.WriteLine(subtitleContent);
    }
    Console.WriteLine($"╚{borderLine}╝");
    Console.ResetColor();
}

/// <summary>
/// Align content to center for console. Can be used with decoration if used inside menu or header
/// </summary>
/// <param name="content">Content to center</param>
/// <param name="decorationString">Left and right decoration, default is empty/none</param>
/// <returns>Center aligned text</returns>
public static string CenterText(string content, string decorationString = "", int windowWidthSize = 90)
{
    int windowWidth = windowWidthSize - (2 * decorationString.Length);
    return String.Format(decorationString + "{0," + ((windowWidth / 2) + (content.Length / 2)) + "}{1," + (windowWidth - (windowWidth / 2) - (content.Length / 2) + decorationString.Length) + "}", content, decorationString);
}