Custom numeric format string to always display the sign

Question

Is there any way I can specify a standard or custom numeric format string to always output the sign, be it +ve or -ve (although what it shoudl do for zero, I'm not sure!)

Answer 1

Yes, you can. There is conditional formatting. See Conditional formatting in MSDN

eg:

string MyString = number.ToString("+#;#");

Where each section separated by a semicolon represents positive and negative numbers

or:

string MyString = number.ToString("+#;#;0");

if you don't want the zero to have a plus sign.

Answer 2

Beware, when using conditional formatting the negative value doesn't automatically get a sign. You need to do

string MyString = number.ToString("+#;-#;0");