TextString

gives a human-readable string representation of expr.

Details and Options

TextString converts expressions to a single string, formatting expressions with the following heads specially:

	String	formats unchanged
	Integer,Real,Rational	formats using decimal notation
	Quantity	formats using decimal notation with unit
	DateObject	formats according to DateFormat
	TimeObject	formats according to TimeFormat
	GeoPosition	formats using degrees latitude and longitude
	Entity	formats using CommonName
	Symbol	formats using SymbolName
	Missing	formats according to MissingString
	List	formats elements, combining as specified by ListFormat
	Association	formats keys and values, combining as specified by AssociationFormat

TextString[Row[list]] formats as a concatenation of elements of list.
TextString[Row[list,sep]] uses separator sep to combine formatted elements.
TextString[Column[list]] formats each element on a separate line.
TextString[TableForm[list]] formats a list of lists as space-separated columns.
Expressions that match patterns in the list given as the setting for ElidedForms are formatted in an elided way.
In other cases, expressions are formatted using InputForm.
TextString supports the following options:

AssociationFormat	Automatic	format to use when formatting associations
BooleanStrings	{"True","False"}	strings to use for True and False
DateFormat	$DateStringFormat	format to use for dates
ElidedForms	Automatic	list of heads whose contents should be elided
ListFormat	Automatic	format to use when formatting lists
MissingString	""	string to use for Missing objects
TimeFormat	Automatic	format to use for times
TimeZone	$TimeZone	time zone used to convert times before formatting

Examples

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Basic Examples (3)

Convert an integer:

Convert a real number:

Convert a GeoPosition:

Convert a DateObject:

Convert a TimeObject:

Convert a Quantity:

Convert a list of elements:

Scope (4)

By default, TextString converts certain built-in expressions to an elided string:

TextString recurses arbitrarily through lists and associations to convert an expression:

Typically, expressions that satisfy NumericQ are formatted as real numbers:

Row formats as a concatenation of its contents:

Column formats each element on a new line:

TableForm formats elements as a table in which columns are space-separated:

Options (6)

AssociationFormat (1)

By default, TextString formats associations as they normally appear in the Wolfram Language:

Use different delimiters:

BooleanStrings (1)

By default, the symbols True and False format as themselves:

Specify different strings to use for the symbols True and False:

DateFormat (1)

TextString uses the same default format as DateString:

Override the default date format:

ElidedForms (1)

The default value ElidedForms->Automatic elides certain complex symbolic expressions:

Ordinary symbolic expressions are formatted normally:

Elide specific symbolic expressions:

Elide all symbolic expressions for which specific formatting rules do not exist:

ListFormat (1)

By default, TextString formats lists as they normally appear in the Wolfram Language:

Use different delimiters:

MissingString (1)

By default, expressions with head Missing are ignored:

Specify a different string:

Use the given reason, if available:

Properties & Relations (1)

UpValues can be defined for custom objects to determine how they should be formatted by TextString:

Possible Issues (1)

Nesting Row and Column expressions does not produce a table:

Use TableForm to produce a table:

Introduced in 2014

(10.0)

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