What do the curly braces mean in C# strings?

Question

while (rdr.Read())
{
    Console.WriteLine(\"Product: {0,-35} Total: {1,2}\", rdr[\"ProductName\"], rdr[\"Total\"]);
}

What does {0,-35} mean in this c

Answer 1

Those brackets are placeholders in strings for values.

So, rdr["ProductName"] will be formatted into the first brackets of the string. And rdr["Total"] will be formatted in the second brackets of the string.

Provided this:

rdr["ProductName"] = "My Product";
rdr["Total"] = 2.98;

Then you will output to the console:

Product: My Product Total: 2.98

After question update:

The {0,-35} part if for alignment purpose. More information on formatting and alignment on C#'s official documentation.