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How to create a sequence of strings between "start" and "end" strings [duplicate]

I have a question about iterate through the Alphabet.
I would like to have a loop that begins with "a" and ends with "z". After that, the loop begins "aa" and count to "az". after that begins with "ba" up to "bz" and so on...
Anybody know some solution?
Thanks
EDIT: I forgot that I give a char "a" to the function then the function must return b. if u give "bnc" then the function must return "bnd"

First effort, with just a-z then aa-zz
public static IEnumerable<string> GetExcelColumns()
{
for (char c = 'a'; c <= 'z'; c++)
{
yield return c.ToString();
}
char[] chars = new char[2];
for (char high = 'a'; high <= 'z'; high++)
{
chars[0] = high;
for (char low = 'a'; low <= 'z'; low++)
{
chars[1] = low;
yield return new string(chars);
}
}
}
Note that this will stop at 'zz'. Of course, there's some ugly duplication here in terms of the loops. Fortunately, that's easy to fix - and it can be even more flexible, too:
Second attempt: more flexible alphabet
private const string Alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
public static IEnumerable<string> GetExcelColumns()
{
return GetExcelColumns(Alphabet);
}
public static IEnumerable<string> GetExcelColumns(string alphabet)
{
foreach(char c in alphabet)
{
yield return c.ToString();
}
char[] chars = new char[2];
foreach(char high in alphabet)
{
chars[0] = high;
foreach(char low in alphabet)
{
chars[1] = low;
yield return new string(chars);
}
}
}
Now if you want to generate just a, b, c, d, aa, ab, ac, ad, ba, ... you'd call GetExcelColumns("abcd").
Third attempt (revised further) - infinite sequence
public static IEnumerable<string> GetExcelColumns(string alphabet)
{
int length = 0;
char[] chars = null;
int[] indexes = null;
while (true)
{
int position = length-1;
// Try to increment the least significant
// value.
while (position >= 0)
{
indexes[position]++;
if (indexes[position] == alphabet.Length)
{
for (int i=position; i < length; i++)
{
indexes[i] = 0;
chars[i] = alphabet[0];
}
position--;
}
else
{
chars[position] = alphabet[indexes[position]];
break;
}
}
// If we got all the way to the start of the array,
// we need an extra value
if (position == -1)
{
length++;
chars = new char[length];
indexes = new int[length];
for (int i=0; i < length; i++)
{
chars[i] = alphabet[0];
}
}
yield return new string(chars);
}
}
It's possible that it would be cleaner code using recursion, but it wouldn't be as efficient.
Note that if you want to stop at a certain point, you can just use LINQ:
var query = GetExcelColumns().TakeWhile(x => x != "zzz");
"Restarting" the iterator
To restart the iterator from a given point, you could indeed use SkipWhile as suggested by thesoftwarejedi. That's fairly inefficient, of course. If you're able to keep any state between call, you can just keep the iterator (for either solution):
using (IEnumerator<string> iterator = GetExcelColumns())
{
iterator.MoveNext();
string firstAttempt = iterator.Current;
if (someCondition)
{
iterator.MoveNext();
string secondAttempt = iterator.Current;
// etc
}
}
Alternatively, you may well be able to structure your code to use a foreach anyway, just breaking out on the first value you can actually use.

Edit: Made it do exactly as the OP's latest edit wants
This is the simplest solution, and tested:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine(GetNextBase26("a"));
Console.WriteLine(GetNextBase26("bnc"));
}
private static string GetNextBase26(string a)
{
return Base26Sequence().SkipWhile(x => x != a).Skip(1).First();
}
private static IEnumerable<string> Base26Sequence()
{
long i = 0L;
while (true)
yield return Base26Encode(i++);
}
private static char[] base26Chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz".ToCharArray();
private static string Base26Encode(Int64 value)
{
string returnValue = null;
do
{
returnValue = base26Chars[value % 26] + returnValue;
value /= 26;
} while (value-- != 0);
return returnValue;
}

The following populates a list with the required strings:
List<string> result = new List<string>();
for (char ch = 'a'; ch <= 'z'; ch++){
result.Add (ch.ToString());
}
for (char i = 'a'; i <= 'z'; i++)
{
for (char j = 'a'; j <= 'z'; j++)
{
result.Add (i.ToString() + j.ToString());
}
}

I know there are plenty of answers here, and one's been accepted, but IMO they all make it harder than it needs to be. I think the following is simpler and cleaner:
static string NextColumn(string column){
char[] c = column.ToCharArray();
for(int i = c.Length - 1; i >= 0; i--){
if(char.ToUpper(c[i]++) < 'Z')
break;
c[i] -= (char)26;
if(i == 0)
return "A" + new string(c);
}
return new string(c);
}
Note that this doesn't do any input validation. If you don't trust your callers, you should add an IsNullOrEmpty check at the beginning, and a c[i] >= 'A' && c[i] <= 'Z' || c[i] >= 'a' && c[i] <= 'z' check at the top of the loop. Or just leave it be and let it be GIGO.
You may also find use for these companion functions:
static string GetColumnName(int index){
StringBuilder txt = new StringBuilder();
txt.Append((char)('A' + index % 26));
//txt.Append((char)('A' + --index % 26));
while((index /= 26) > 0)
txt.Insert(0, (char)('A' + --index % 26));
return txt.ToString();
}
static int GetColumnIndex(string name){
int rtn = 0;
foreach(char c in name)
rtn = rtn * 26 + (char.ToUpper(c) - '#');
return rtn - 1;
//return rtn;
}
These two functions are zero-based. That is, "A" = 0, "Z" = 25, "AA" = 26, etc. To make them one-based (like Excel's COM interface), remove the line above the commented line in each function, and uncomment those lines.
As with the NextColumn function, these functions don't validate their inputs. Both with give you garbage if that's what they get.

Here’s what I came up with.
/// <summary>
/// Return an incremented alphabtical string
/// </summary>
/// <param name="letter">The string to be incremented</param>
/// <returns>the incremented string</returns>
public static string NextLetter(string letter)
{
const string alphabet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(letter))
{
char lastLetterInString = letter[letter.Length - 1];
// if the last letter in the string is the last letter of the alphabet
if (alphabet.IndexOf(lastLetterInString) == alphabet.Length - 1)
{
//replace the last letter in the string with the first leter of the alphbat and get the next letter for the rest of the string
return NextLetter(letter.Substring(0, letter.Length - 1)) + alphabet[0];
}
else
{
// replace the last letter in the string with the proceeding letter of the alphabet
return letter.Remove(letter.Length-1).Insert(letter.Length-1, (alphabet[alphabet.IndexOf(letter[letter.Length-1])+1]).ToString() );
}
}
//return the first letter of the alphabet
return alphabet[0].ToString();
}

just curious , why not just
private string alphRecursive(int c) {
var alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz".ToCharArray();
if (c >= alphabet.Length) {
return alphRecursive(c/alphabet.Length) + alphabet[c%alphabet.Length];
} else {
return "" + alphabet[c%alphabet.Length];
}
}

This is like displaying an int, only using base 26 in stead of base 10. Try the following algorithm to find the nth entry of the array
q = n div 26;
r = n mod 26;
s = '';
while (q > 0 || r > 0) {
s = alphabet[r] + s;
q = q div 26;
r = q mod 26;
}
Of course, if you want the first n entries, this is not the most efficient solution. In this case, try something like daniel's solution.

I gave this a go and came up with this:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace Alphabetty
{
class Program
{
const string alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
static int cursor = 0;
static int prefixCursor;
static string prefix = string.Empty;
static bool done = false;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string s = string.Empty;
while (s != "Done")
{
s = GetNextString();
Console.WriteLine(s);
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
static string GetNextString()
{
if (done) return "Done";
char? nextLetter = GetNextLetter(ref cursor);
if (nextLetter == null)
{
char? nextPrefixLetter = GetNextLetter(ref prefixCursor);
if(nextPrefixLetter == null)
{
done = true;
return "Done";
}
prefix = nextPrefixLetter.Value.ToString();
nextLetter = GetNextLetter(ref cursor);
}
return prefix + nextLetter;
}
static char? GetNextLetter(ref int letterCursor)
{
if (letterCursor == alphabet.Length)
{
letterCursor = 0;
return null;
}
char c = alphabet[letterCursor];
letterCursor++;
return c;
}
}
}

Here is something I had cooked up that may be similar. I was experimenting with iteration counts in order to design a numbering schema that was as small as possible, yet gave me enough uniqueness.
I knew that each time a added an Alpha character, it would increase the possibilities 26x but I wasn't sure how many letters, numbers, or the pattern I wanted to use.
That lead me to the code below. Basically you pass it an AlphaNumber string, and every position that has a Letter, would eventually increment to "z\Z" and every position that had a Number, would eventually increment to "9".
So you can call it 1 of two ways..
//This would give you the next Itteration... (H3reIsaStup4dExamplf)
string myNextValue = IncrementAlphaNumericValue("H3reIsaStup4dExample")
//Or Loop it resulting eventually as "Z9zzZzzZzzz9zZzzzzzz"
string myNextValue = "H3reIsaStup4dExample"
while (myNextValue != null)
{
myNextValue = IncrementAlphaNumericValue(myNextValue)
//And of course do something with this like write it out
}
(For me, I was doing something like "1AA000")
public string IncrementAlphaNumericValue(string Value)
{
//We only allow Characters a-b, A-Z, 0-9
if (System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.IsMatch(Value, "^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$") == false)
{
throw new Exception("Invalid Character: Must be a-Z or 0-9");
}
//We work with each Character so it's best to convert the string to a char array for incrementing
char[] myCharacterArray = Value.ToCharArray();
//So what we do here is step backwards through the Characters and increment the first one we can.
for (Int32 myCharIndex = myCharacterArray.Length - 1; myCharIndex >= 0; myCharIndex--)
{
//Converts the Character to it's ASCII value
Int32 myCharValue = Convert.ToInt32(myCharacterArray[myCharIndex]);
//We only Increment this Character Position, if it is not already at it's Max value (Z = 90, z = 122, 57 = 9)
if (myCharValue != 57 && myCharValue != 90 && myCharValue != 122)
{
myCharacterArray[myCharIndex]++;
//Now that we have Incremented the Character, we "reset" all the values to the right of it
for (Int32 myResetIndex = myCharIndex + 1; myResetIndex < myCharacterArray.Length; myResetIndex++)
{
myCharValue = Convert.ToInt32(myCharacterArray[myResetIndex]);
if (myCharValue >= 65 && myCharValue <= 90)
{
myCharacterArray[myResetIndex] = 'A';
}
else if (myCharValue >= 97 && myCharValue <= 122)
{
myCharacterArray[myResetIndex] = 'a';
}
else if (myCharValue >= 48 && myCharValue <= 57)
{
myCharacterArray[myResetIndex] = '0';
}
}
//Now we just return an new Value
return new string(myCharacterArray);
}
}
//If we got through the Character Loop and were not able to increment anything, we retun a NULL.
return null;
}

Here's my attempt using recursion:
public static void PrintAlphabet(string alphabet, string prefix)
{
for (int i = 0; i < alphabet.Length; i++) {
Console.WriteLine(prefix + alphabet[i].ToString());
}
if (prefix.Length < alphabet.Length - 1) {
for (int i = 0; i < alphabet.Length; i++) {
PrintAlphabet(alphabet, prefix + alphabet[i]);
}
}
}
Then simply call PrintAlphabet("abcd", "");

Thousands separator after the decimal point [duplicate]

I wonder what would be the best way to format numbers so that the NumberGroupSeparator would work not only on the integer part to the left of the comma, but also on the fractional part, on the right of the comma.
Math.PI.ToString("###,###,##0.0##,###,###,###") // As documented ..
// ..this doesn't work
3.14159265358979 // result
3.141,592,653,589,79 // desired result
As documented on MSDN the NumberGroupSeparator works only to the left of the comma. I wonder why??

A little clunky, and it won't work for scientific numbers but here is a try:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var π=Math.PI*10000;
Debug.WriteLine(Display(π));
// 31,415.926,535,897,931,899
}
static string Display(double x)
{
int s=Math.Sign(x);
x=Math.Abs(x);
StringBuilder text=new StringBuilder();
var y=Math.Truncate(x);
text.Append((s*y).ToString("#,#"));
x-=y;
if (x>0)
{
// 15 decimal places is max reasonable precision
y=Math.Truncate(x*Math.Pow(10, 15));
text.Append(".");
text.Append(y.ToString("#,#").TrimEnd('0'));
}
return text.ToString();
}
}

It might be best to work with the string generated by your .ToString():
class Program
{
static string InsertSeparators(string s)
{
string decSeparator = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator;
int separatorPos = s.IndexOf(decSeparator);
if (separatorPos >= 0)
{
string decPart = s.Substring(separatorPos + decSeparator.Length);
// split the string into parts of 3 or less characters
List<String> parts = new List<String>();
for (int i = 0; i < decPart.Length; i += 3)
{
string part = "";
for (int j = 0; (j < 3) && (i + j < decPart.Length); j++)
{
part += decPart[i + j];
}
parts.Add(part);
}
string groupSeparator = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberGroupSeparator;
s = s.Substring(0, separatorPos) + decSeparator + String.Join(groupSeparator, parts);
}
return s;
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
for (int n = 0; n < 15; n++)
{
string s = Math.PI.ToString("0." + new string('#', n));
Console.WriteLine(InsertSeparators(s));
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Outputs:
3
3.1
3.14
3.142
3.141,6
3.141,59
3.141,593
3.141,592,7
3.141,592,65
3.141,592,654
3.141,592,653,6
3.141,592,653,59
3.141,592,653,59
3.141,592,653,589,8
3.141,592,653,589,79

OK, not my strong side, but I guess this may be my best bet:
string input = Math.PI.ToString();
string decSeparator = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread
.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberGroupSeparator;
Regex RX = new Regex(#"([0-9]{3})");
string result = RX.Replace(input , #"$1" + decSeparator);
Thanks for listening..

How to reverse an array of strings without changing the position of special characters in C#

I'm working on reversing a sentence. I'm able to do it. But I'm not sure, how to reverse the word without changing the special characters positions. I'm using regex but as soon as it finds the special characters it's stopping the reversal of the word.
Following is the code:
Console.WriteLine("Enter:");
string w = Console.ReadLine();
string rw = String.Empty;
String[] arr = w.Split(' ');
var regexItem = new Regex("^[a-zA-Z0-9]*$");
StringBuilder appendString = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = 0; i < arr.Length; i++)
{
char[] chararray = arr[i].ToCharArray();
for (int j = chararray.Length - 1; j >= 0; j--)
{
if (regexItem.IsMatch(rw))
{
rw = appendString.Append(chararray[j]).ToString();
}
}
sb.Append(' ');
}
Console.WriteLine(rw);
Console.ReadLine();
Example : Input
Marshall! Hello.
Expected output
llahsram! olleh.

A basic solution with regex and LINQ. Try it online.
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Marshall! Hello.");
Console.WriteLine(Reverse("Marshall! Hello."));
}
public static string Reverse(string source)
{
// we split by groups to keep delimiters
var parts = Regex.Split(source, #"([^a-zA-Z0-9])");
// if we got a group of valid characters
var results = parts.Select(x => x.All(char.IsLetterOrDigit)
// we reverse it
? new string(x.Reverse().ToArray())
// or we keep the delimiters as it
: x);
// then we concat all of them
return string.Concat(results);
}
The same solution without LINQ. Try it online.
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Marshall! Hello.");
Console.WriteLine(Reverse("Marshall! Hello."));
}
public static bool IsLettersOrDigits(string s)
{
foreach (var c in s)
{
if (!char.IsLetterOrDigit(c))
{
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
public static string Reverse(char[] s)
{
Array.Reverse(s);
return new string(s);
}
public static string Reverse(string source)
{
var parts = Regex.Split(source, #"([^a-zA-Z0-9])");
var results = new List<string>();
foreach(var x in parts)
{
results.Add(IsLettersOrDigits(x)
? Reverse(x.ToCharArray())
: x);
}
return string.Concat(results);
}

This is a solution without LINQ. I wasn't sure about what are considered special characters.
string sentence = "Marshall! Hello.";
List<string> words = sentence.Split(' ').ToList();
List<string> reversedWords = new List<string>();
foreach (string word in words)
{
char[] arr = new char[word.Length];
for( int i=0; i<word.Length; i++)
{
if(!Char.IsLetterOrDigit((word[i])))
{
for ( int x=0; x< i; x++)
{
arr[x] = arr[x + 1];
}
arr[i] = word[i];
}
else
{
arr[word.Length - 1 - i] = word[i];
}
}
reversedWords.Add(new string(arr));
}
string reversedSentence = string.Join(" ", reversedWords);
Console.WriteLine(reversedSentence);
And this is the output:
Updated Output = llahsraM! olleH.

Here is a non-regex version that does what you want:
var sentence = "Hello, john!";
var parts = sentence.Split(' ');
var reversed = new StringBuilder();
var charPositions = sentence.Select((c, idx) => new { Char = c, Index = idx })
.Where(_ => !char.IsLetterOrDigit(_.Char));
for (int i = 0; i < parts.Length; i++)
{
var chars = parts[i].ToCharArray();
for (int j = chars.Length - 1; j >= 0; j--)
{
if (char.IsLetterOrDigit(chars[j]))
{
reversed.Append(chars[j]);
}
}
}
foreach (var ch in charPositions)
{
reversed.Insert(ch.Index, ch.Char);
}
// olleH, nhoj!
Console.WriteLine(reversed.ToString());
Basically the trick is to remember the position of special (i.e. non letter or digit) characters and insert them at the end to those positions.

This solution is without LINQ and Regex. It may not be an efficient answer but working properly for small string values.
// This will reverse the string and special characters will just stay there.
public string ReverseString(string rString)
{
StringBuilder ss = new StringBuilder(rString);
int y = 0;
// The idea is to swap values. Like swapping first value with last one. It will keep swapping unless it reaches at the middle of the string where no swapping will be needed.
// This first loop is to detect first values.
for(int i=rString.Length-1;i>=0;i--)
{
// This condition is to check if the values is String or not. If it is not string then it is considered as special character which will just stay there at same old position.
if(Char.IsLetter(Convert.ToChar(rString.Substring(i,1))))
{
// This is second loop which is starting from end to swap values from end with first.
for (int k = y; k < rString.Length; k++)
{
// Again checking last values if values are string or not.
if (Char.IsLetter(Convert.ToChar(rString.Substring(k, 1))))
{
// This is swapping. So st1 is First value in that string
// st2 is the last item in that string
char st1 = Convert.ToChar(rString.Substring(k, 1));
char st2 = Convert.ToChar(rString.Substring(i, 1));
//This is swapping. So last item will go to first position and first item will go to last position, To make sure string is reversed.
// Remember when the string value is Special Character, swapping will move forward without swapping.
ss[rString.IndexOf(rString.Substring(i, 1))] = st1;
ss[rString.IndexOf(rString.Substring(k, 1))] = st2;
y++;
// When the swapping is done for first 2 items. The loop will stop to change the values.
break;
}
else
{
// This is just increment if value was Special character.
y++;
}
}
}
}
return ss.ToString();
}
Thanks!

Decimal group seperator for the fractional part

I wonder what would be the best way to format numbers so that the NumberGroupSeparator would work not only on the integer part to the left of the comma, but also on the fractional part, on the right of the comma.
Math.PI.ToString("###,###,##0.0##,###,###,###") // As documented ..
// ..this doesn't work
3.14159265358979 // result
3.141,592,653,589,79 // desired result
As documented on MSDN the NumberGroupSeparator works only to the left of the comma. I wonder why??

A little clunky, and it won't work for scientific numbers but here is a try:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var π=Math.PI*10000;
Debug.WriteLine(Display(π));
// 31,415.926,535,897,931,899
}
static string Display(double x)
{
int s=Math.Sign(x);
x=Math.Abs(x);
StringBuilder text=new StringBuilder();
var y=Math.Truncate(x);
text.Append((s*y).ToString("#,#"));
x-=y;
if (x>0)
{
// 15 decimal places is max reasonable precision
y=Math.Truncate(x*Math.Pow(10, 15));
text.Append(".");
text.Append(y.ToString("#,#").TrimEnd('0'));
}
return text.ToString();
}
}

It might be best to work with the string generated by your .ToString():
class Program
{
static string InsertSeparators(string s)
{
string decSeparator = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator;
int separatorPos = s.IndexOf(decSeparator);
if (separatorPos >= 0)
{
string decPart = s.Substring(separatorPos + decSeparator.Length);
// split the string into parts of 3 or less characters
List<String> parts = new List<String>();
for (int i = 0; i < decPart.Length; i += 3)
{
string part = "";
for (int j = 0; (j < 3) && (i + j < decPart.Length); j++)
{
part += decPart[i + j];
}
parts.Add(part);
}
string groupSeparator = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberGroupSeparator;
s = s.Substring(0, separatorPos) + decSeparator + String.Join(groupSeparator, parts);
}
return s;
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
for (int n = 0; n < 15; n++)
{
string s = Math.PI.ToString("0." + new string('#', n));
Console.WriteLine(InsertSeparators(s));
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Outputs:
3
3.1
3.14
3.142
3.141,6
3.141,59
3.141,593
3.141,592,7
3.141,592,65
3.141,592,654
3.141,592,653,6
3.141,592,653,59
3.141,592,653,59
3.141,592,653,589,8
3.141,592,653,589,79

OK, not my strong side, but I guess this may be my best bet:
string input = Math.PI.ToString();
string decSeparator = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread
.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberGroupSeparator;
Regex RX = new Regex(#"([0-9]{3})");
string result = RX.Replace(input , #"$1" + decSeparator);
Thanks for listening..

How to convert Int To String in C# without using library functions?

What is the most effective code to convert int to string without using a native convert function.
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
string y = Convert(990);
Console.WriteLine(y);
Console.ReadLine();
}
public static string Convert(int x)
{
char[] Str = new char[20];
int i = 0;
while (x != 0)
{
Str[i++] = x % 10 + '0';
x = x / 10;
}
return Str.ToString();// How do I handle this without the native function?
}
The above doesnt seem to work. Please advise.

Here's a solution without a String constructor or a .ToString() call. This one handles negative numbers.
It's a bit too 'clever' for my taste, but it's an academic exercise anyway...
void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine(Convert(-5432));
}
String Convert(int i)
{
return String.Join("",Digits(i).Reverse());
}
IEnumerable<char> Digits(int i)
{
bool neg = false;
if(i==0) {yield return '0'; yield break;}
if(i<0) { i = -i; neg = true;}
while (i!=0)
{
char digit = (char)(i % 10 + '0');
i = i / 10;
yield return digit;
}
if(neg) yield return '-';
yield break;
}

It might be easier to construct your result using a StringBuilder rather than a char array:
public static string Convert(int x)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
while (x != 0)
{
sb.Insert(0, (char)(x % 10 + '0'));
x = x / 10;
}
return sb.ToString();
}
The Insert(0, x) allows you to insert the more significant digits at the front.

You are adding the least significant digits to the start of the string. You'll need to reverse the string, or add the digits in reverse order, or insert them rather than append them.
And you'll need to do some casting. For example, here's one way to do it:
Str[i++] = (char)(x % 10 + '0');
Finally, you cannot use ToString() like that. You want this:
return new string(Str, 0, i);
Although StringBuilder might be more suitable.
And note that your code won't work properly for negative input values, or for zero.
So, here's a version that handles all of that:
public static string Convert(int x)
{
if (x == 0)
{
return "0";
}
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
string prefix = "";
if (x < 0)
{
prefix = "-";
x = -x;
}
while (x != 0)
{
sb.Insert(0, (char)(x % 10 + '0'));
x = x / 10;
}
return prefix + sb.ToString();
}
This is pretty ugly though!