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

try:

var t = HttpUtility.JavaScriptStringEncode(s);

Answer 2

Code:

string someString1 = "\tHello\r\n\tWorld!\r\n";
string someString2 = @"\tHello\r\n\tWorld!\r\n";

Console.WriteLine(someString1);
Console.WriteLine(someString2);

Output:

    Hello
    World!

\tHello\r\n\tWorld!\r\n

Is this what you want?

Answer 3

There's a method for this in Roslyn's Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp package on nuget :

    private static string ToLiteral(string valueTextForCompiler)
    {
        return Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.SymbolDisplay.FormatLiteral(valueTextForCompiler, false);
    }

Obviously this didn't exist at the time of the original question, but might help people who end up here from Google.

Answer 4

EDIT: A more structured approach, including all escape sequences for strings and chars.
Doesn't replace unicode characters with their literal equivalent. Doesn't cook eggs, either.

public class ReplaceString
{
    static readonly IDictionary<string, string> m_replaceDict 
        = new Dictionary<string, string>();

    const string ms_regexEscapes = @"[\a\b\f\n\r\t\v\\""]";

    public static string StringLiteral(string i_string)
    {
        return Regex.Replace(i_string, ms_regexEscapes, match);
    }

    public static string CharLiteral(char c)
    {
        return c == '\'' ? @"'\''" : string.Format("'{0}'", c);
    }

    private static string match(Match m)
    {
        string match = m.ToString();
        if (m_replaceDict.ContainsKey(match))
        {
            return m_replaceDict[match];
        }

        throw new NotSupportedException();
    }

    static ReplaceString()
    {
        m_replaceDict.Add("\a", @"\a");
        m_replaceDict.Add("\b", @"\b");
        m_replaceDict.Add("\f", @"\f");
        m_replaceDict.Add("\n", @"\n");
        m_replaceDict.Add("\r", @"\r");
        m_replaceDict.Add("\t", @"\t");
        m_replaceDict.Add("\v", @"\v");

        m_replaceDict.Add("\\", @"\\");
        m_replaceDict.Add("\0", @"\0");

        //The SO parser gets fooled by the verbatim version 
        //of the string to replace - @"\"""
        //so use the 'regular' version
        m_replaceDict.Add("\"", "\\\""); 
    }

    static void Main(string[] args){

        string s = "here's a \"\n\tstring\" to test";
        Console.WriteLine(ReplaceString.StringLiteral(s));
        Console.WriteLine(ReplaceString.CharLiteral('c'));
        Console.WriteLine(ReplaceString.CharLiteral('\''));

    }
}