In C should I use string Empty or String Empty or to intitialize a string

Question

In C   I want to initialize a string value with an empty string   How should I do this   What is the right way  and why   string willi   string Empty    or  string willi   String Empty    or  string willi         or what

User · Answer

Either of the first two would be acceptable to me. I would avoid the last one because it is relatively easy to introduce a bug by putting a space between the quotes. This particular bug would be difficult to find by observation. Assuming no typos, all are semantically equivalent.

[EDIT]

Also, you might want to always use either string or String for consistency, but that's just me.

User · Answer

Just about every developer out there will know what    means   I personally encountered String Empty the first time and had to spend some time searching google to figure out if they really are the exact same thing

User · Answer

Either of the first two would be acceptable to me. I would avoid the last one because it is relatively easy to introduce a bug by putting a space between the quotes. This particular bug would be difficult to find by observation. Assuming no typos, all are semantically equivalent.

[EDIT]

Also, you might want to always use either string or String for consistency, but that's just me.

User · Answer

I strongly prefer String Empty  aside from the other reasons to ensure you know what it is and that you have not accidentally removed the contents  but primarily for internationalization  If I see a string in quotes then I always have to wonder whether that is new code and it should be put into a string table  So every time code gets changed reviewed you need to look for  something in quotes  and yes you can filter out the empty strings but I tell people it is good practice to never put strings in quotes unless you know it won t get localized

User · Answer

I personally prefer    unless there is a good reason to something more complex

User · Answer

This topic is pretty old and long  so excuse me if this behavior has been mentioned somewhere else   And point me to the answer that covers this    I have found a difference in the behavior of the compiler if you use string Empty or double quotes  The difference shows itself if you don t use the string variable initialized with string Empty or with double quotes     In case of initialization with string Empty then the Compiler Warning   CS0219 - The variable  x  is assigned but its value is never used   is never emitted while in case of initialization with double quotes you get the expected message     This behavior is explained in the Connect article at this link  https   connect microsoft com VisualStudio feedback details 799810 c-warning-cs0219-not-reported-when-assign-non-constant-value   Basically  if I get it right  they want to allow a programmer to set a variable with the return value of a function for debugging purposes without bothering him with a warning message and thus they limited the warning only in case of costant assignments and string Empty is not a constant but a field

User · Answer

I doesn t make a difference  The last one is the quickest to type though

User · Answer

String Empty and string Empty are equivalent  String is the BCL class name  string is its C  alias  or shortcut  if you will   Same as with Int32 and int  See the docs for more examples   As far as    is concerned  I m not really sure   Personally  I always use string Empty

User · Answer

I wasn t going to chime in  but I m seeing some wrong info getting tossed out here   I  personally  prefer string Empty  That s a personal preference  and I bend to the will of whatever team I work with on a case-by-case basis   As some others have mentioned  there is no difference at all between string Empty and String Empty    Additionally  and this is a little known fact  using    is perfectly acceptable  Every instance of    will  in other environments  create an object  However   NET interns its strings  so future instances will pull the same immutable string from the intern pool  and any performance hit will be negligible  Source  Brad Abrams

User · Answer

Any of the above   There are many  many better things to pontificate  Such as what colour bark suits a tree best  I think vague brown with tinges of dulcet moss

User · Answer

I personally prefer    unless there is a good reason to something more complex

User · Answer

I doesn t make a difference  The last one is the quickest to type though

User · Answer

I doesn t make a difference  The last one is the quickest to type though

User · Answer

It doesn t matter - they are exactly the same thing  However  the main thing is that you must be consistent  p s  I struggle with this sort of  whats the right thing  all the time

User · Answer

Possibly a controversial comment  but  generally  I find that my life is easier when I act consistently with Microsoft  We can t possibly know the full deeply embedded reasons  sometimes highly rigorous  and sometime kludgy  I imagine  for why they do things   They use    in automatically generated files like the Assembly file  so that is what I do  In fact  when I try to replace any below    with String Empty  Visual Studio crashes on me  There is probably a logical explanation for this  but with my limited knowledge  if I just do what they do  most of the time  things work out   Contra  I am aware they some automatically generated files also use String Empty  which kind of shatters my point         lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyCulture     gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyDescription     gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyFileVersion  1 0 0 0   gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyKeyFile     gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyProduct     gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyTitle     gt

User · Answer

String Empty and string Empty are equivalent  String is the BCL class name  string is its C  alias  or shortcut  if you will   Same as with Int32 and int  See the docs for more examples   As far as    is concerned  I m not really sure   Personally  I always use string Empty

User · Answer

One difference is that if you use a switch-case syntax  you can t write case string Empty  because it s not a constant  You get a Compilation error   A constant value is expected  Look at this link for more info  string-empty-versus-empty-quotes

User · Answer

I think the second is  proper   but to be honest I don t think it will matter  The compiler should be smart enough to compile any of those to the exact same bytecode  I use    myself

User · Answer

The empty string is like empty set just a name that everybody uses to call     Also in formal languages strings created from an alphabet that have zero length are called the empty string  Both set and string have a special symbol for it  Empty string  e and empty set      If you want to talk about this zero length string you will call it the empty string so everybody knows exactly what you are referring to  Now in case you name it the empty string why not use string Empty in code  its shows the intention is explicit  Downside is that it   s not a constant and therefore not available everywhere  like in attributes   It s not a constant for some technical reasons  see the reference source

User · Answer

It doesn t matter - they are exactly the same thing  However  the main thing is that you must be consistent  p s  I struggle with this sort of  whats the right thing  all the time

User · Answer

On http   blogs msdn com b brada archive 2003 04 22 49997 aspx       As David implies  there difference between String Empty and    are pretty small  but there is a difference     actually creates an object  it will likely be pulled out of the string intern pool  but still    while String Empty creates no object    so if you are really looking for ultimately in memory efficiency  I suggest String Empty   However  you should keep in mind the difference is so trival you will like never see it in your code      As for System String Empty or string Empty or String Empty    my care level is low  -

User · Answer

The compiler should make them all the same in the long run   Pick a standard so that your code will be easy to read  and stick with it

User · Answer

I was just looking at some code and this question popped into my mind which I had read some time before  This is certainly a question of readability   Consider the following C  code      customer    null         customer Name   vs   customer    null    string empty   customer Name   I personally find the latter less ambiguous and easier to read   As pointed out by others the actual differences are negligible

User · Answer

I strongly prefer String Empty  aside from the other reasons to ensure you know what it is and that you have not accidentally removed the contents  but primarily for internationalization  If I see a string in quotes then I always have to wonder whether that is new code and it should be put into a string table  So every time code gets changed reviewed you need to look for  something in quotes  and yes you can filter out the empty strings but I tell people it is good practice to never put strings in quotes unless you know it won t get localized

User · Answer

String Empty and string Empty are equivalent  String is the BCL class name  string is its C  alias  or shortcut  if you will   Same as with Int32 and int  See the docs for more examples   As far as    is concerned  I m not really sure   Personally  I always use string Empty

User · Answer

I use the third  but of the other two the first seems less odd  string is an alias for String  but seeing them across an assignment feels off

User · Answer

It doesn t matter - they are exactly the same thing  However  the main thing is that you must be consistent  p s  I struggle with this sort of  whats the right thing  all the time

User · Answer

The compiler should make them all the same in the long run   Pick a standard so that your code will be easy to read  and stick with it

User · Answer

It is totally a code-style preference  do to how  NET handles strings  However  here are my opinions     I always use the BCL Type names when accessing static methods  properties and fields  String Empty or Int32 TryParse      or Double Epsilon  I always use the C  keywords when declaring new instances  int i   0  or string foo    bar    I rarely use undeclared string literals as I like to be able to scan the code to combine them into reusable named constants  The compiler replaces constants with the literals anyway so this is more of a way to avoid magic strings numbers and to give a little more meaning to them with a name  Plus changing the values is easier

User · Answer

The best code is no code at all      The fundamental nature of coding is that our task  as programmers  is to recognize that every decision we make is a trade-off        Start with brevity  Increase the other dimensions as required by testing    Consequently  less code is better code  Prefer    to string Empty or String Empty  Those two are six times longer with no added benefit      certainly no added clarity  as they express the exact same information

User · Answer

string is synonym for System String type  They are identical    Values are also identical  string Empty    String Empty        I would not use character constant    in code  rather string Empty or String Empty - easier to see what programmer meant   Between string and String I like lower case string more just because I used to work with Delphi for lot of years and Delphi style is lowercase string   So  if I was your boss  you would be writing string Empty

User · Answer

I d prefer string to String  choosing string Empty over    is a matter of choosing one and sticking with it  Advantage of using string Empty is it is very obvious what you mean  and you don t accidentally copy over non-printable characters like   x003  in your

User · Answer

I use the third  but of the other two the first seems less odd  string is an alias for String  but seeing them across an assignment feels off

User · Answer

I use the third  but of the other two the first seems less odd  string is an alias for String  but seeing them across an assignment feels off

User · Answer

I strongly prefer String Empty  aside from the other reasons to ensure you know what it is and that you have not accidentally removed the contents  but primarily for internationalization  If I see a string in quotes then I always have to wonder whether that is new code and it should be put into a string table  So every time code gets changed reviewed you need to look for  something in quotes  and yes you can filter out the empty strings but I tell people it is good practice to never put strings in quotes unless you know it won t get localized

User · Answer

I doesn t make a difference  The last one is the quickest to type though

User · Answer

I wasn t going to chime in  but I m seeing some wrong info getting tossed out here   I  personally  prefer string Empty  That s a personal preference  and I bend to the will of whatever team I work with on a case-by-case basis   As some others have mentioned  there is no difference at all between string Empty and String Empty    Additionally  and this is a little known fact  using    is perfectly acceptable  Every instance of    will  in other environments  create an object  However   NET interns its strings  so future instances will pull the same immutable string from the intern pool  and any performance hit will be negligible  Source  Brad Abrams

User · Answer

I would favor string Empty over String Empty because you can use it without needing to include a using System  in your file   As for the picking    over string Empty  it is personal preference and should be decided by your team

User · Answer

string is synonym for System String type  They are identical    Values are also identical  string Empty    String Empty        I would not use character constant    in code  rather string Empty or String Empty - easier to see what programmer meant   Between string and String I like lower case string more just because I used to work with Delphi for lot of years and Delphi style is lowercase string   So  if I was your boss  you would be writing string Empty

User · Answer

Use whatever you and your team find the most readable   Other answers have suggested that a new string is created every time you use     This is not true - due to string interning  it will be created either once per assembly or once per AppDomain  or possibly once for the whole process - not sure on that front   This difference is negligible - massively  massively insignificant   Which you find more readable is a different matter  however  It s subjective and will vary from person to person - so I suggest you find out what most people on your team like  and all go with that for consistency  Personally I find    easier to read   The argument that    and     are easily mistaken for each other doesn t really wash with me  Unless you re using a proportional font  and I haven t worked with any developers who do  it s pretty easy to tell the difference

User · Answer

Use whatever you and your team find the most readable   Other answers have suggested that a new string is created every time you use     This is not true - due to string interning  it will be created either once per assembly or once per AppDomain  or possibly once for the whole process - not sure on that front   This difference is negligible - massively  massively insignificant   Which you find more readable is a different matter  however  It s subjective and will vary from person to person - so I suggest you find out what most people on your team like  and all go with that for consistency  Personally I find    easier to read   The argument that    and     are easily mistaken for each other doesn t really wash with me  Unless you re using a proportional font  and I haven t worked with any developers who do  it s pretty easy to tell the difference

User · Answer

While difference is very  VERY little  the difference still exist   1     creates object while String Empty does not  But this object will be created once and will be referenced from the string pool later if you have another    in the code   2  String and string are the same  but I would recommend to use String Empty  as well as String Format  String Copy etc   since dot notation indicates class  not operator  and having class starting with capital letter conforms to C  coding standards

User · Answer

While difference is very  VERY little  the difference still exist   1     creates object while String Empty does not  But this object will be created once and will be referenced from the string pool later if you have another    in the code   2  String and string are the same  but I would recommend to use String Empty  as well as String Format  String Copy etc   since dot notation indicates class  not operator  and having class starting with capital letter conforms to C  coding standards

User · Answer

The best code is no code at all      The fundamental nature of coding is that our task  as programmers  is to recognize that every decision we make is a trade-off        Start with brevity  Increase the other dimensions as required by testing    Consequently  less code is better code  Prefer    to string Empty or String Empty  Those two are six times longer with no added benefit      certainly no added clarity  as they express the exact same information

User · Answer

While difference is very  VERY little  the difference still exist   1     creates object while String Empty does not  But this object will be created once and will be referenced from the string pool later if you have another    in the code   2  String and string are the same  but I would recommend to use String Empty  as well as String Format  String Copy etc   since dot notation indicates class  not operator  and having class starting with capital letter conforms to C  coding standards

User · Answer

I d prefer string to String  choosing string Empty over    is a matter of choosing one and sticking with it  Advantage of using string Empty is it is very obvious what you mean  and you don t accidentally copy over non-printable characters like   x003  in your

User · Answer

No one mentioned that in VisualStudio String is color coded differently then string  Which is important for readability  Also  lower case is usually used for vars and type  not a big deal but String Empty is a constant and not a var or type

User · Answer

Use whatever you and your team find the most readable   Other answers have suggested that a new string is created every time you use     This is not true - due to string interning  it will be created either once per assembly or once per AppDomain  or possibly once for the whole process - not sure on that front   This difference is negligible - massively  massively insignificant   Which you find more readable is a different matter  however  It s subjective and will vary from person to person - so I suggest you find out what most people on your team like  and all go with that for consistency  Personally I find    easier to read   The argument that    and     are easily mistaken for each other doesn t really wash with me  Unless you re using a proportional font  and I haven t worked with any developers who do  it s pretty easy to tell the difference

User · Answer

I d prefer string to String  choosing string Empty over    is a matter of choosing one and sticking with it  Advantage of using string Empty is it is very obvious what you mean  and you don t accidentally copy over non-printable characters like   x003  in your

User · Answer

I think the second is  proper   but to be honest I don t think it will matter  The compiler should be smart enough to compile any of those to the exact same bytecode  I use    myself

User · Answer

Any of the above   There are many  many better things to pontificate  Such as what colour bark suits a tree best  I think vague brown with tinges of dulcet moss

User · Answer

I personally prefer    unless there is a good reason to something more complex

User · Answer

I think the second is  proper   but to be honest I don t think it will matter  The compiler should be smart enough to compile any of those to the exact same bytecode  I use    myself

User · Answer

I wasn t going to chime in  but I m seeing some wrong info getting tossed out here   I  personally  prefer string Empty  That s a personal preference  and I bend to the will of whatever team I work with on a case-by-case basis   As some others have mentioned  there is no difference at all between string Empty and String Empty    Additionally  and this is a little known fact  using    is perfectly acceptable  Every instance of    will  in other environments  create an object  However   NET interns its strings  so future instances will pull the same immutable string from the intern pool  and any performance hit will be negligible  Source  Brad Abrams

User · Answer

Either of the first two would be acceptable to me. I would avoid the last one because it is relatively easy to introduce a bug by putting a space between the quotes. This particular bug would be difficult to find by observation. Assuming no typos, all are semantically equivalent.

[EDIT]

Also, you might want to always use either string or String for consistency, but that's just me.

User · Answer

I d prefer string to String  choosing string Empty over    is a matter of choosing one and sticking with it  Advantage of using string Empty is it is very obvious what you mean  and you don t accidentally copy over non-printable characters like   x003  in your

User · Answer

Use whatever you and your team find the most readable   Other answers have suggested that a new string is created every time you use     This is not true - due to string interning  it will be created either once per assembly or once per AppDomain  or possibly once for the whole process - not sure on that front   This difference is negligible - massively  massively insignificant   Which you find more readable is a different matter  however  It s subjective and will vary from person to person - so I suggest you find out what most people on your team like  and all go with that for consistency  Personally I find    easier to read   The argument that    and     are easily mistaken for each other doesn t really wash with me  Unless you re using a proportional font  and I haven t worked with any developers who do  it s pretty easy to tell the difference

User · Answer

I use the third  but of the other two the first seems less odd  string is an alias for String  but seeing them across an assignment feels off

User · Answer

There really is no difference from a performance and code generated standpoint  In performance testing  they went back and forth between which one was faster vs the other  and only by milliseconds   In looking at the behind the scenes code  you really don t see any difference either  The only difference is in the IL  which string Empty use the opcode ldsfld and    uses the opcode ldstr  but that is only because string Empty is static  and both instructions do the same thing  If you look at the assembly that is produced  it is exactly the same   C  Code  private void Test1         string test1   string Empty          string test11   test1     private void Test2         string test2               string test22   test2      IL Code   method private hidebysig instance void            Test1   cil managed        Code size       10  0xa     maxstack  1    locals init   0  string test1                   1  string test11    IL 0000   nop   IL 0001   ldsfld     string  mscorlib System String  Empty   IL 0006   stloc 0   IL 0007   ldloc 0   IL 0008   stloc 1   IL 0009   ret      end of method Form1  Test1      method private hidebysig instance void          Test2   cil managed        Code size       10  0xa     maxstack  1    locals init   0  string test2                   1  string test22    IL 0000   nop   IL 0001   ldstr           IL 0006   stloc 0   IL 0007   ldloc 0   IL 0008   stloc 1   IL 0009   ret      end of method Form1  Test2   Assembly code          string test1   string Empty  0000003a  mov         eax dword ptr ds  022A102Ch   0000003f  mov         dword ptr  ebp-40h  eax           string test11   test1  00000042  mov         eax dword ptr  ebp-40h   00000045  mov         dword ptr  ebp-44h  eax              string test2       0000003a  mov         eax dword ptr ds  022A202Ch   00000040  mov         dword ptr  ebp-40h  eax           string test22   test2  00000043  mov         eax dword ptr  ebp-40h   00000046  mov         dword ptr  ebp-44h  eax

User · Answer

While difference is very  VERY little  the difference still exist   1     creates object while String Empty does not  But this object will be created once and will be referenced from the string pool later if you have another    in the code   2  String and string are the same  but I would recommend to use String Empty  as well as String Format  String Copy etc   since dot notation indicates class  not operator  and having class starting with capital letter conforms to C  coding standards

User · Answer

It doesn t matter - they are exactly the same thing  However  the main thing is that you must be consistent  p s  I struggle with this sort of  whats the right thing  all the time

User · Answer

The compiler should make them all the same in the long run   Pick a standard so that your code will be easy to read  and stick with it

User · Answer

string is synonym for System String type  They are identical    Values are also identical  string Empty    String Empty        I would not use character constant    in code  rather string Empty or String Empty - easier to see what programmer meant   Between string and String I like lower case string more just because I used to work with Delphi for lot of years and Delphi style is lowercase string   So  if I was your boss  you would be writing string Empty

User · Answer

I use    because it will be colored distinctively yellow in my code    for some reason String Empty is all white in my Visual Studio Code theme  And I believe that matters to me the most

User · Answer

I have personally witnessed    resulting in  minor  problems twice  Once was due to a mistake of a junior developer new to team-based programming  and the other was a simple typo  but the fact is using string Empty would have avoided both issues   Yes  this is very much a judgement call  but when a language gives you multiple ways to do things  I tend to lean toward the one that has the most compiler oversight and strongest compile-time enforcement  That is not     It s all about expressing specific intent   If you type string EMpty or Strng Empty  the compiler lets you know you did it wrong  Immediately  It simply will not compile  As a developer you are citing specific intent that the compiler  or another developer  cannot in any way misinterpret  and when you do it wrong  you can t create a bug   If you type     when you mean    or vice-versa  the compiler happily does what you told it to do  Another developer may or may not be able to glean your specific intent  Bug created   Long before string Empty was a thing I ve used a standard library that defined the EMPTY STRING constant  We still use that constant in case statements where string Empty is not allowed   Whenever possible  put the compiler to work for you  and eliminate the possibility of human error  no matter how small  IMO  this trumps  readability  as others have cited   Specificity and compile time enforcement  It s what s for dinner

User · Answer

The compiler should make them all the same in the long run   Pick a standard so that your code will be easy to read  and stick with it

User · Answer

Possibly a controversial comment  but  generally  I find that my life is easier when I act consistently with Microsoft  We can t possibly know the full deeply embedded reasons  sometimes highly rigorous  and sometime kludgy  I imagine  for why they do things   They use    in automatically generated files like the Assembly file  so that is what I do  In fact  when I try to replace any below    with String Empty  Visual Studio crashes on me  There is probably a logical explanation for this  but with my limited knowledge  if I just do what they do  most of the time  things work out   Contra  I am aware they some automatically generated files also use String Empty  which kind of shatters my point         lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyCulture     gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyDescription     gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyFileVersion  1 0 0 0   gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyKeyFile     gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyProduct     gt   lt Assembly  System Reflection AssemblyTitle     gt

User · Answer

I personally prefer    unless there is a good reason to something more complex

User · Answer

The best code is no code at all      The fundamental nature of coding is that our task  as programmers  is to recognize that every decision we make is a trade-off        Start with brevity  Increase the other dimensions as required by testing    Consequently  less code is better code  Prefer    to string Empty or String Empty  Those two are six times longer with no added benefit      certainly no added clarity  as they express the exact same information

User · Answer

I performed this very simple test using following method in a console application   private static void CompareStringConstants         string str1           string str2   string Empty      string str3   String Empty      Console WriteLine object ReferenceEquals str1  str2      prints True     Console WriteLine object ReferenceEquals str2  str3      prints True     This clearly suggests that all three variables namely str1  str2 and str3 though being initialized using different syntax are pointing to the exactly same string  of zero length  object in memory   I performed this test in  NET 4 5 console application  So internally they have no difference and it all boils down to convenience of which one you want to use as a programmer  This behavior of string class is known as string interning in  NET  Eric Lippert has a very nice blog here describing this concept

User · Answer

This topic is pretty old and long  so excuse me if this behavior has been mentioned somewhere else   And point me to the answer that covers this    I have found a difference in the behavior of the compiler if you use string Empty or double quotes  The difference shows itself if you don t use the string variable initialized with string Empty or with double quotes     In case of initialization with string Empty then the Compiler Warning   CS0219 - The variable  x  is assigned but its value is never used   is never emitted while in case of initialization with double quotes you get the expected message     This behavior is explained in the Connect article at this link  https   connect microsoft com VisualStudio feedback details 799810 c-warning-cs0219-not-reported-when-assign-non-constant-value   Basically  if I get it right  they want to allow a programmer to set a variable with the return value of a function for debugging purposes without bothering him with a warning message and thus they limited the warning only in case of costant assignments and string Empty is not a constant but a field

User · Answer

It is totally a code-style preference  do to how  NET handles strings  However  here are my opinions     I always use the BCL Type names when accessing static methods  properties and fields  String Empty or Int32 TryParse      or Double Epsilon  I always use the C  keywords when declaring new instances  int i   0  or string foo    bar    I rarely use undeclared string literals as I like to be able to scan the code to combine them into reusable named constants  The compiler replaces constants with the literals anyway so this is more of a way to avoid magic strings numbers and to give a little more meaning to them with a name  Plus changing the values is easier

User · Answer

I would favor string Empty over String Empty because you can use it without needing to include a using System  in your file   As for the picking    over string Empty  it is personal preference and should be decided by your team

User · Answer

There really is no difference from a performance and code generated standpoint  In performance testing  they went back and forth between which one was faster vs the other  and only by milliseconds   In looking at the behind the scenes code  you really don t see any difference either  The only difference is in the IL  which string Empty use the opcode ldsfld and    uses the opcode ldstr  but that is only because string Empty is static  and both instructions do the same thing  If you look at the assembly that is produced  it is exactly the same   C  Code  private void Test1         string test1   string Empty          string test11   test1     private void Test2         string test2               string test22   test2      IL Code   method private hidebysig instance void            Test1   cil managed        Code size       10  0xa     maxstack  1    locals init   0  string test1                   1  string test11    IL 0000   nop   IL 0001   ldsfld     string  mscorlib System String  Empty   IL 0006   stloc 0   IL 0007   ldloc 0   IL 0008   stloc 1   IL 0009   ret      end of method Form1  Test1      method private hidebysig instance void          Test2   cil managed        Code size       10  0xa     maxstack  1    locals init   0  string test2                   1  string test22    IL 0000   nop   IL 0001   ldstr           IL 0006   stloc 0   IL 0007   ldloc 0   IL 0008   stloc 1   IL 0009   ret      end of method Form1  Test2   Assembly code          string test1   string Empty  0000003a  mov         eax dword ptr ds  022A102Ch   0000003f  mov         dword ptr  ebp-40h  eax           string test11   test1  00000042  mov         eax dword ptr  ebp-40h   00000045  mov         dword ptr  ebp-44h  eax              string test2       0000003a  mov         eax dword ptr ds  022A202Ch   00000040  mov         dword ptr  ebp-40h  eax           string test22   test2  00000043  mov         eax dword ptr  ebp-40h   00000046  mov         dword ptr  ebp-44h  eax

User · Answer

I performed this very simple test using following method in a console application   private static void CompareStringConstants         string str1           string str2   string Empty      string str3   String Empty      Console WriteLine object ReferenceEquals str1  str2      prints True     Console WriteLine object ReferenceEquals str2  str3      prints True     This clearly suggests that all three variables namely str1  str2 and str3 though being initialized using different syntax are pointing to the exactly same string  of zero length  object in memory   I performed this test in  NET 4 5 console application  So internally they have no difference and it all boils down to convenience of which one you want to use as a programmer  This behavior of string class is known as string interning in  NET  Eric Lippert has a very nice blog here describing this concept

User · Answer

Any of the above   There are many  many better things to pontificate  Such as what colour bark suits a tree best  I think vague brown with tinges of dulcet moss

User · Answer

I use    because it will be colored distinctively yellow in my code    for some reason String Empty is all white in my Visual Studio Code theme  And I believe that matters to me the most

User · Answer

The best code is no code at all      The fundamental nature of coding is that our task  as programmers  is to recognize that every decision we make is a trade-off        Start with brevity  Increase the other dimensions as required by testing    Consequently  less code is better code  Prefer    to string Empty or String Empty  Those two are six times longer with no added benefit      certainly no added clarity  as they express the exact same information

User · Answer

One difference is that if you use a switch-case syntax  you can t write case string Empty  because it s not a constant  You get a Compilation error   A constant value is expected  Look at this link for more info  string-empty-versus-empty-quotes

User · Answer

No one mentioned that in VisualStudio String is color coded differently then string  Which is important for readability  Also  lower case is usually used for vars and type  not a big deal but String Empty is a constant and not a var or type

User · Answer

The empty string is like empty set just a name that everybody uses to call     Also in formal languages strings created from an alphabet that have zero length are called the empty string  Both set and string have a special symbol for it  Empty string  e and empty set      If you want to talk about this zero length string you will call it the empty string so everybody knows exactly what you are referring to  Now in case you name it the empty string why not use string Empty in code  its shows the intention is explicit  Downside is that it   s not a constant and therefore not available everywhere  like in attributes   It s not a constant for some technical reasons  see the reference source

User · Answer

Either of the first two would be acceptable to me. I would avoid the last one because it is relatively easy to introduce a bug by putting a space between the quotes. This particular bug would be difficult to find by observation. Assuming no typos, all are semantically equivalent.

[EDIT]

Also, you might want to always use either string or String for consistency, but that's just me.

User · Answer

String Empty and string Empty are equivalent  String is the BCL class name  string is its C  alias  or shortcut  if you will   Same as with Int32 and int  See the docs for more examples   As far as    is concerned  I m not really sure   Personally  I always use string Empty

User · Answer

I was just looking at some code and this question popped into my mind which I had read some time before  This is certainly a question of readability   Consider the following C  code      customer    null         customer Name   vs   customer    null    string empty   customer Name   I personally find the latter less ambiguous and easier to read   As pointed out by others the actual differences are negligible

User · Answer

Just about every developer out there will know what    means   I personally encountered String Empty the first time and had to spend some time searching google to figure out if they really are the exact same thing

User · Answer

On http   blogs msdn com b brada archive 2003 04 22 49997 aspx       As David implies  there difference between String Empty and    are pretty small  but there is a difference     actually creates an object  it will likely be pulled out of the string intern pool  but still    while String Empty creates no object    so if you are really looking for ultimately in memory efficiency  I suggest String Empty   However  you should keep in mind the difference is so trival you will like never see it in your code      As for System String Empty or string Empty or String Empty    my care level is low  -

User · Answer

I strongly prefer String Empty  aside from the other reasons to ensure you know what it is and that you have not accidentally removed the contents  but primarily for internationalization  If I see a string in quotes then I always have to wonder whether that is new code and it should be put into a string table  So every time code gets changed reviewed you need to look for  something in quotes  and yes you can filter out the empty strings but I tell people it is good practice to never put strings in quotes unless you know it won t get localized

User · Answer

I wasn t going to chime in  but I m seeing some wrong info getting tossed out here   I  personally  prefer string Empty  That s a personal preference  and I bend to the will of whatever team I work with on a case-by-case basis   As some others have mentioned  there is no difference at all between string Empty and String Empty    Additionally  and this is a little known fact  using    is perfectly acceptable  Every instance of    will  in other environments  create an object  However   NET interns its strings  so future instances will pull the same immutable string from the intern pool  and any performance hit will be negligible  Source  Brad Abrams

User · Answer

Any of the above   There are many  many better things to pontificate  Such as what colour bark suits a tree best  I think vague brown with tinges of dulcet moss

User · Answer

I think the second is  proper   but to be honest I don t think it will matter  The compiler should be smart enough to compile any of those to the exact same bytecode  I use    myself

User · Answer

I have personally witnessed    resulting in  minor  problems twice  Once was due to a mistake of a junior developer new to team-based programming  and the other was a simple typo  but the fact is using string Empty would have avoided both issues   Yes  this is very much a judgement call  but when a language gives you multiple ways to do things  I tend to lean toward the one that has the most compiler oversight and strongest compile-time enforcement  That is not     It s all about expressing specific intent   If you type string EMpty or Strng Empty  the compiler lets you know you did it wrong  Immediately  It simply will not compile  As a developer you are citing specific intent that the compiler  or another developer  cannot in any way misinterpret  and when you do it wrong  you can t create a bug   If you type     when you mean    or vice-versa  the compiler happily does what you told it to do  Another developer may or may not be able to glean your specific intent  Bug created   Long before string Empty was a thing I ve used a standard library that defined the EMPTY STRING constant  We still use that constant in case statements where string Empty is not allowed   Whenever possible  put the compiler to work for you  and eliminate the possibility of human error  no matter how small  IMO  this trumps  readability  as others have cited   Specificity and compile time enforcement  It s what s for dinner

User · Answer

string is synonym for System String type  They are identical    Values are also identical  string Empty    String Empty        I would not use character constant    in code  rather string Empty or String Empty - easier to see what programmer meant   Between string and String I like lower case string more just because I used to work with Delphi for lot of years and Delphi style is lowercase string   So  if I was your boss  you would be writing string Empty

[c#] In C#, should I use string.Empty or String.Empty or "" to intitialize a string?

Examples related to c#

Examples related to .net

Examples related to string

Examples related to initialization