What Does the Dollar Sign ($) Mean in C# String Interpolation?

String Interpolation with Dollar Sign in C#

While exploring the realm of C#, you may have encountered a dollar sign ($) preceding a string, and wondered about its purpose. Let's shed some light on this enigmatic symbol.

The dollar sign, when placed before a string literal, is indicative of a new feature introduced in C# 6: string interpolations. It functions similarly to the traditional String.Format method but offers a more concise and intuitive way to build formatted strings.

In your specific case, $ in front of the string (e.g., "$"text"") does nothing significant. It's akin to calling String.Format() without any parameters, which doesn't affect the string content.

However, string interpolations come into their element when combined with other values. Instead of manually concatenating strings with values as done before:

var anInt = 1;
var aBool = true;
var aString = "3";
var formatted = string.Format("{0},{1},{2}", anInt, aBool, aString);

You can now use string interpolation for a streamlined approach:

var anInt = 1;
var aBool = true;
var aString = "3";
var formatted = $"{anInt},{aBool},{aString}";

Additionally, there's an alternative form of string interpolation using $@, where the dollar sign comes after the "@" symbol. This hybrid approach allows you to mix verbatim strings with interpolated values without the need for excessive backslashes. For instance, the following code:

var someDir = "a";
Console.WriteLine($@"c:\{someDir}\b\c");

Will output:

c:\a\b\c

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