C# 0 The Complete Reference

PART I

C h a p t e r   3 :  

D a t a   T y p e s ,   L i t e r a l s ,   a n d   V a r i a b l e s  

49

PART IPART I

  static void Main() {

    Console.WriteLine(@"This is a verbatim

string literal

that spans several lines.

");

    Console.WriteLine(@"Here is some tabbed output:

1       2       3       4

5       6       7       8

");

    Console.WriteLine(@"Programmers say, ""I like C#.""");

  }

}

The output from this program is shown here:

This is a verbatim

string literal

that spans several lines.

Here is some tabbed output:

1       2       3       4

5       6       7       8

Programmers say, "I like C#."

The important point to notice about the preceding program is that the verbatim string 

literals are displayed precisely as they are entered into the program.

The advantage of verbatim string literals is that you can specify output in your program 

exactly as it will appear on the screen. However, in the case of multiline strings, the 

wrapping will obscure the indentation of your program. For this reason, the programs in 

this book will make only limited use of verbatim string literals. That said, they are still a 

wonderful benefit for many formatting situations.

One last point: Don’t confuse strings with characters. A character literal, such as 'X', 

represents a single letter of type 

char

. A string containing only one letter, such as "X", is still

a string.