Can I convert a C# string value to an escaped string literal

Question

In C#, can I convert a string value to a string literal, the way I would see it in code? I would like to replace tabs, newlines, etc. with their escape sequences.

If

Answer 1

I submit my own implementation, which handles null values and should be more performant on account of using array lookup tables, manual hex conversion, and avoiding switch statements.

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Linq;

public static class StringLiteralEncoding {
  private static readonly char[] HEX_DIGIT_LOWER = "0123456789abcdef".ToCharArray();
  private static readonly char[] LITERALENCODE_ESCAPE_CHARS;

  static StringLiteralEncoding() {
    // Per http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/h21280bw.aspx
    var escapes = new string[] { "\aa", "\bb", "\ff", "\nn", "\rr", "\tt", "\vv", "\"\"", "\\\\", "??", "\00" };
    LITERALENCODE_ESCAPE_CHARS = new char[escapes.Max(e => e[0]) + 1];
    foreach(var escape in escapes)
      LITERALENCODE_ESCAPE_CHARS[escape[0]] = escape[1];
  }

  /// 

  /// Convert the string to the equivalent C# string literal, enclosing the string in double quotes and inserting
  /// escape sequences as necessary.
  /// 
  /// The string to be converted to a C# string literal.
  ///  represented as a C# string literal.
  public static string Encode(string s) {
    if(null == s) return "null";

    var sb = new StringBuilder(s.Length + 2).Append('"');
    for(var rp = 0; rp < s.Length; rp++) {
      var c = s[rp];
      if(c < LITERALENCODE_ESCAPE_CHARS.Length && '\0' != LITERALENCODE_ESCAPE_CHARS[c])
        sb.Append('\\').Append(LITERALENCODE_ESCAPE_CHARS[c]);
      else if('~' >= c && c >= ' ')
        sb.Append(c);
      else
        sb.Append(@"\x")
          .Append(HEX_DIGIT_LOWER[c >> 12 & 0x0F])
          .Append(HEX_DIGIT_LOWER[c >>  8 & 0x0F])
          .Append(HEX_DIGIT_LOWER[c >>  4 & 0x0F])
          .Append(HEX_DIGIT_LOWER[c       & 0x0F]);
    }

    return sb.Append('"').ToString();
  }
}