`StringBuilder` `ToString`

ToString on StringBuilder returns a string. It internally converts the character buffer of the StringBuilder into a string object.

ToString does this without allocating memory or copying a lot of data in most cases. It often has no significant performance penalty.

Example

This program demonstrates the ToString method on StringBuilder. This method is used to convert a StringBuilder's character buffer into an actual string reference.

And Because many .NET programs use a string parameter type, converting the StringBuilder's buffer to a string is useful.

Here This example creates a StringBuilder and appends 13 strings to its buffer using the Append calls.

Finally We call ToString. This method internally uses logic and often does not copy the string data an additional time.

Detail ToString sets a null character in the buffer data and transforms the buffer into a string without any allocation occurring.

using System;
using System.Text;

//
// Begin by declaring a StringBuilder and adding three strings.
//
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
builder.Append("one ");
builder.Append("two ");
builder.Append("three ");
//
// Add many strings to the StringBuilder in a loop.
//
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
    builder.Append("x ");
}
//
// Get a string from the StringBuilder.
// ... Often no additional copying is required at this stage.
//
string result = builder.ToString();
Console.WriteLine(result);
one two three x x x x x x x x x x

Discussion

Does ToString() actually make another copy of the string data? The ToString method on StringBuilder contains some logic that avoids an additional copy in many cases.

Note An additional copy of the string characters is made when the StringBuilder is being used on multiple threads at the same time.

Note 2 An additional copy is also made if the memory allocated to the StringBuilder is much larger than required.

Info This improves efficiency. It means that the copy will occupy less memory in the long run.

However In all other cases, the ToString method simply modifies its internal buffer and transforms it into a string.

We examined the StringBuilder ToString method. This converts the character buffer to a string. ToString internally prevents an extra string copy from occurring.

StringBuilder ToString

Example

Discussion

`StringBuilder` `ToString`