Double quotes in c# doesn't allow multiline

Question

e.g.

string str = "{\"aps\":{\"alert\":\"" + title + "" + message + "\"}}";

I need to make it as for readability:

 string str = "
 {
   \"aps\":
         {
             \"alert\":\"" + title + "" + message + "\"
         }
 }";

How to achieve this, please suggest.

You can use single quotes instead of double. – NASSER Jul 05 '17 at 05:36 — NASSER, Jul 05 '17 at 05:36
@X-TECH: Not if the OP wants to end up with valid JSON. – Jon Skeet Jul 05 '17 at 05:55 — Jon Skeet, Jul 05 '17 at 05:55

score 37 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 05 '17 at 05:51

If you really need to do this in a string literal, I'd use a verbatim string literal (the @ prefix). In verbatim string literals you need to use "" to represent a double quote. I'd suggest using interpolated string literals too, to make the embedding of title and message cleaner. That does mean you need to double the {{ and }} though. So you'd have:

string title = "This is the title: ";
string message = "(Message)";
string str = $@"
{{
   ""aps"":
   {{
       ""alert"":""{title}{message}""
   }}
}}";
Console.WriteLine(str);

Output:

{
   "aps":
   {
       "alert":"This is the title: (Message)"
   }
}

However, this is still more fragile than simply building up JSON using a JSON API - if the title or message contain quotes for example, you'll end up with invalid JSON. I'd just use Json.NET, for example:

string title = "This is the title: ";
string message = "(Message)";
JObject json = new JObject
{
    ["aps"] = new JObject 
    { 
        ["alert"] = title + message 
    }
};
Console.WriteLine(json.ToString());

That's much cleaner IMO, as well as being more robust.

@furqanms: Sorry, I don't know what you mean. The code I've given doesn't produce any extra braces, and it's unclear what code you're using. — Jon Skeet, Jul 05 '17 at 06:44
Sorry, It was my mistake, JObject is great for readability, Thanks @Jon Skeet — Furqan Misarwala, Jul 05 '17 at 06:47
Your Json.NET for me is the correct answer, it worked for me and got me out of a hole during development of an app too so thanks for sharing — System24 Tech, Jan 17 '18 at 08:49

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 05 '17 at 05:44

3

You could use what X-Tech has said, use additional concatenation operators ('+') on every line, or use the symbol '@':

 string str = @"
         {
           'aps':
                 {
                     'alert':'" + title + "" + message + @"'
                 }
         }";

Since its a JSON, you can use single quotes instead of double quotes.

About '@': Multiline String Literal in C#

answered Jul 05 '17 at 05:44

Arvind Sasikumar

402
3
12

note here the @ is needed in the 3rd last line towards the end too, because a new multi line string is starting. Anytime you start a new multi line string, put the '@' symbol. – Arvind Sasikumar Jul 05 '17 at 05:46
3

Single quotes aren't really valid in JSON. They work in many parsers, but they violate https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7159 – Jon Skeet Jul 05 '17 at 05:48
@JonSkeet Thanks for pointing that out. But I don't see how one could use only double quotes and have a clean multi line string without using single quotes... – Arvind Sasikumar Jul 05 '17 at 05:51
See my answer for a couple of options. – Jon Skeet Jul 05 '17 at 05:55
@JonSkeet Thanks for that answer, learnt something new today. – Arvind Sasikumar Jul 05 '17 at 05:57

Double quotes in c# doesn't allow multiline

2 Answers2