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TextString
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TextString

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TextString[expr]

gives a human-readable string representation of expr.

Details and Options

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)Summary of the most common use cases

Convert an integer:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-o1bxgr

Convert a real number:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-li1q72

Convert a GeoPosition:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-ey2q2d

Convert a DateObject:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-qx84jz

Convert a TimeObject:

In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-3grc7n

Convert a Quantity:

In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-fhsusw

Convert a list of elements:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-m6cx28

Scope  (4)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

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

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-0nozg4

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

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-7zcyjq

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

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-02p288

Row formats as a concatenation of its contents:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-xn7oz4

Column formats each element on a new line:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-b2dwm6
Out[2]=2

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

In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-3j4idj
Out[3]=3

Options  (6)Common values & functionality for each option

AssociationFormat  (1)

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

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-ltfpia

Use different delimiters:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-ic5tvc

BooleanStrings  (1)

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

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-cyickv

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

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-u8f1sx

DateFormat  (1)

TextString uses the same default format as DateString:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-n3gscq

Override the default date format:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-xji2qn

ElidedForms  (1)

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

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-jaizqr

Ordinary symbolic expressions are formatted normally:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-7q9jnz

Elide specific symbolic expressions:

In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-lm50y4

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

In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-fu0fr3

ListFormat  (1)

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

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-nufxys

Use different delimiters:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-dkuvsm

MissingString  (1)

By default, expressions with head Missing are ignored:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-l1849v

Specify a different string:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-cb2z45

Use the given reason, if available:

In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-xy3w2m

Properties & Relations  (1)Properties of the function, and connections to other functions

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

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-n4ot1c
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-uh2188
Out[2]=2

Possible Issues  (1)Common pitfalls and unexpected behavior

Nesting Row and Column expressions does not produce a table:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-8kwcfn
Out[1]=1

Use TableForm to produce a table:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0tztbhci-1wb61h
Out[2]=2
Wolfram Research (2014), TextString, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html.
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Wolfram Research (2014), TextString, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2014), TextString, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html.

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Wolfram Research (2014), TextString, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2014. "TextString." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html.

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Wolfram Language. 2014. "TextString." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2014). TextString. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html

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Wolfram Language. (2014). TextString. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_textstring, author="Wolfram Research", title="{TextString}", year="2014", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html}", note=[Accessed: 03-June-2025 ]}

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@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_textstring, author="Wolfram Research", title="{TextString}", year="2014", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html}", note=[Accessed: 03-June-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_textstring, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={TextString}, year={2014}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html}, note=[Accessed: 03-June-2025 ]}

✖
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_textstring, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={TextString}, year={2014}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TextString.html}, note=[Accessed: 03-June-2025 ]}