c# - How can I align text in columns using Console.WriteLine?

Question

I have a sort of column display, but the end two column's seem to not be aligning correctly. This is the code I have at the moment:

Console.WriteLine("Customer name    " 
    + "sales          " 
    + "fee to be paid    " 
    + "70% value       " 
    + "30% value");
for (int DisplayPos = 0; DisplayPos < LineNum; DisplayPos = DisplayPos + 1)
{
    seventy_percent_value = ((fee_payable[DisplayPos] / 10.0) * 7);
    thirty_percent_value = ((fee_payable[DisplayPos] / 10.0) * 3);          
    Console.WriteLine(customer[DisplayPos] + "         " 
        + sales_figures[DisplayPos] + "               " 
        + fee_payable[DisplayPos] + "           " 
        + seventy_percent_value + "           " 
        + thirty_percent_value);
}

I am a rookie programmer so I may not understand all advice given, but if you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Try this

Console.WriteLine("{0,10}{1,10}{2,10}{3,10}{4,10}",
  customer[DisplayPos],
  sales_figures[DisplayPos],
  fee_payable[DisplayPos], 
  seventy_percent_value,
  thirty_percent_value);

where the first number inside the curly brackets is the index and the second is the alignment. The sign of the second number indicates if the string should be left or right aligned. Use negative numbers for left alignment.

Or look at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa331875(v=vs.71).aspx