String or StringBuilder return values?

Question

If I am building a string using a StringBuilder object in a method, would it make sense to:

Return the StringBuilder object, and let the calling code call ToString()?

Answer 1

I don't think performance should be a factor in this question. Either way someone is going to call sb.ToString() so your going to take the hit someplace.

The more important question is what is the intention of the method and the purpose. If this method is part of a builder you might return the string builder. Otherwise I would return a string.

If this is part of a public API I would lean towards returning a string instead of the builder.