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C# : When exactly should a StringBuilder be used?
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Hi!
I’m very interesting in when to use exactly the StringBuilder?
For example for something like this?:
String strTest1 = “This”;
String strTest2 = “Test”;
StringBuilder stbTest = new StringBuilder();
stbTest.Append(strTest1). Append(“is a ”). Append(stbTest);
can someone provide some sample codes when to use a StringBuilder?
And can someone tell me his experience about the performance of a StringBuilder?
Regards,
gicio
I’m very interesting in when to use exactly the StringBuilder?
For example for something like this?:
String strTest1 = “This”;
String strTest2 = “Test”;
StringBuilder stbTest = new StringBuilder();
stbTest.Append(strTest1). Append(“is a ”). Append(stbTest);
can someone provide some sample codes when to use a StringBuilder?
And can someone tell me his experience about the performance of a StringBuilder?
Regards,
gicio
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Join Date: Feb 2002
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The C# Man, Myth, Legend
StringBuilder should be used when putting together large, complex strings. Do not use it for working with small strings - StringBuilder has a lot of overhead and isn't worth the performance loss.
-Ryan Hoffman
.NET Specialist / Webmaster, Extended64.com.
Please do not email or PM me with support questions. Please direct them to the forums instead.
.NET Specialist / Webmaster, Extended64.com.
Please do not email or PM me with support questions. Please direct them to the forums instead.
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 12,047
Reputation: 
Solved Threads: 129
It seems to me as if gicio might indeed be using it for large strings, and is just providing these small "test" strings as an example to learn how to use it.
Dani the Computer Science Gal 
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From my experience, if you are manipulating very large strings, such as imported from a 2MB text file you have to use StringBuilder.
To give you an example, to import a csv file of 30,000 records, when i used a string to store the data took over 2 mins to process (and used a lot of computer resources.
with StringBuilder, it tool just a few seconds to process.
jack
www.ansariltd.com
To give you an example, to import a csv file of 30,000 records, when i used a string to store the data took over 2 mins to process (and used a lot of computer resources.
with StringBuilder, it tool just a few seconds to process.
jack
www.ansariltd.com
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Originally Posted by cscgal
It seems to me as if gicio might indeed be using it for large strings, and is just providing these small "test" strings as an example to learn how to use it.
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 898
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The C# Man, Myth, Legend
Why would you store all of that in a string? LOL
That's why we have things like DataSets...
That's why we have things like DataSets...
-Ryan Hoffman
.NET Specialist / Webmaster, Extended64.com.
Please do not email or PM me with support questions. Please direct them to the forums instead.
.NET Specialist / Webmaster, Extended64.com.
Please do not email or PM me with support questions. Please direct them to the forums instead.
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Originally Posted by Tekmaven™
Why would you store all of that in a string? LOL
That's why we have things like DataSets...
Can you convert directly from a cvs file to a datatable?
I imported the cvs, into a string builder, then from that I manually converted it to a datatable by splitting it at the commans and end of lines.
is there an easier way?
well from my experience you better not using the StringBuilder its full of over head, now if you are really dealing with very large strings you better use data sets or design a small data structure that accepts Object and proccess your data with.
It has nothing to do with the text size.
The difference is that the string value is immutable.
Methods that appear to modify a string actually return a new string containing the modification.
Here is a simple example:
Result:
label1.Text is “false�
label2.Text is “true�
s1 and s2 reference different objects, while sb1 and sb2 reference the same object.
Conclusion:
Use a StringBuilder if you have significant modifications of the text (to build a string)
The difference is that the string value is immutable.
Methods that appear to modify a string actually return a new string containing the modification.
Here is a simple example:
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string s1 = "World";
string s2 = s1.Insert(0, "Hello ");
label1.Text = object.ReferenceEquals(s1, s2).ToString();
StringBuilder sb1 = new StringBuilder("World");
StringBuilder sb2 = sb1.Insert(0, "Hello ");
label2.Text = object.ReferenceEquals(sb1, sb2).ToString();
label1.Text is “false�
label2.Text is “true�
s1 and s2 reference different objects, while sb1 and sb2 reference the same object.
Conclusion:
Use a StringBuilder if you have significant modifications of the text (to build a string)
I agree with SPYRO.
This is ultimately an issue of efficiency. If a program is constantly making minor string modifications without a StringBuilder, there will be a lot of unused object references which get garbage collected (eventually).
If you are working on a large number of items with several string manipulations each, the computer's performance might suffer. To get around this, manipulate the strings in a StringBuilder. There will be far fewer objects created.
Mark
This is ultimately an issue of efficiency. If a program is constantly making minor string modifications without a StringBuilder, there will be a lot of unused object references which get garbage collected (eventually).
If you are working on a large number of items with several string manipulations each, the computer's performance might suffer. To get around this, manipulate the strings in a StringBuilder. There will be far fewer objects created.
Mark
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