C# Convert Char Array to String

You want to convert an array of characters into a string. It can be hard to remember how to do this. Here we review how to use the reference type string constructor. We see a simple example of how to convert these types, using the C# programming language.

Example

First, we see the approach you can use to convert the char array. This is interesting because you see the lowercase string type has a constructor. It is a reference type, unlike int or char. Here, a char array is initialized.

Program that converts char array [C#]

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
	// A. 15 character array.
	char[] c = new char[15];
	c[0] = 'O';
	c[1] = 'n';
	c[2] = 'l';
	c[3] = 'y';
	c[4] = ' ';
	c[5] = 'T';
	c[6] = 'h';
	c[7] = 'e';
	c[8] = ' ';
	c[9] = 'L';
	c[10] = 'o';
	c[11] = 'n';
	c[12] = 'e';
	c[13] = 'l';
	c[14] = 'y';

	// B. 15 character string.
	string s = new string(c);
	Console.WriteLine(s);
    }
}

Output

Only The Lonely

Description. The first part shows the 15 characters in the char array assigned to letters. Recall that char is two bytes in the C# language, and is not equivalent to byte. Next, part B shows the new string() constructor. It is the same as a regular constructor such as new Form(), but is lowercase. You can find more information on the char data type in specific.

String keyword. The lowercase 'string' type is actually an alias for the String reference type. It's important to know that strings are reference types. This means they reference external data.

Notes

The new string constructor is overall very efficient when compared to other approaches. It is the fastest way to make a new string in many cases. I use it in my performance-sensitive web program. It is much faster than manually appending characters to your string, or using StringBuilder.

MSDN reference. MSDN indicates that the String Constructor(Char[]) "Initializes a new instance of the String class to the value indicated by an array of Unicode characters." Additionally, it states that if you pass the constructor null, you get an empty string (not a null one).

Summary

We saw how you can use the overloaded string constructor shown to instantiate a new string object from an array. You can run the example console app to prove the method works and will work in your program.