Is there an easy way to create ordinals in C#?

Question

Is there an easy way in C# to create Ordinals for a number? For example:

• 1 returns 1st
• 2 returns 2nd
• 3 returns 3rd
• ...etc

Can this be done through String.Format() or are there any functions available to do this?

Answer 1

Similar to Ryan's solution, but even more basic, I just use a plain array and use the day to look up the correct ordinal:

private string[] ordinals = new string[] {"","st","nd","rd","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","st","nd","rd","th","th","th","th","th","th","th","st" };
DateTime D = DateTime.Now;
String date = "Today's day is: "+ D.Day.ToString() + ordinals[D.Day];

I have not had the need, but I would assume you could use a multidimensional array if you wanted to have multiple language support.

From what I can remember from my Uni days, this method requires minimal effort from the server.

Answer 2

Here is the DateTime Extension class. Copy, Paste & Enjoy

public static class DateTimeExtensions {

    public static string ToStringWithOrdinal(this DateTime d)
    {
        var result = "";
        bool bReturn = false;            

        switch (d.Day % 100)
        {
            case 11:
            case 12:
            case 13:
                result = d.ToString("dd'th' MMMM yyyy");
                bReturn = true;
                break;
        }

        if (!bReturn)
        {
            switch (d.Day % 10)
            {
                case 1:
                    result = d.ToString("dd'st' MMMM yyyy");
                    break;
                case 2:
                    result = d.ToString("dd'nd' MMMM yyyy");
                    break;
                case 3:
                    result = d.ToString("dd'rd' MMMM yyyy");
                    break;
                default:
                    result = d.ToString("dd'th' MMMM yyyy");
                    break;
            }

        }

        if (result.StartsWith("0")) result = result.Substring(1);
        return result;
    }
}

Result :

9th October 2014

Answer 3

public static string OrdinalSuffix(int ordinal)
{
    //Because negatives won't work with modular division as expected:
    var abs = Math.Abs(ordinal); 

    var lastdigit = abs % 10; 

    return 
        //Catch 60% of cases (to infinity) in the first conditional:
        lastdigit > 3 || lastdigit == 0 || (abs % 100) - lastdigit == 10 ? "th" 
            : lastdigit == 1 ? "st" 
            : lastdigit == 2 ? "nd" 
            : "rd";
}

Answer 4

        private static string GetOrd(int num) => $"{num}{(!(Range(11, 3).Any(n => n == num % 100) ^ Range(1, 3).All(n => n != num % 10)) ? new[] { "ˢᵗ", "ⁿᵈ", "ʳᵈ" }[num % 10 - 1] : "ᵗʰ")}";

If anyone looking for one liner :p

Answer 5

I rather liked elements from both Stu's and samjudson's solutions and worked them together into what I think is a usable combo:

    public static string Ordinal(this int number)
    {
        const string TH = "th";
        var s = number.ToString();

        number %= 100;

        if ((number >= 11) && (number <= 13))
        {
            return s + TH;
        }

        switch (number % 10)
        {
            case 1:
                return s + "st";
            case 2:
                return s + "nd";
            case 3:
                return s + "rd";
            default:
                return s + TH;
        }
    }

Answer 6

This page gives you a complete listing of all custom numerical formatting rules:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0c899ak8.aspx

As you can see, there is nothing in there about ordinals, so it can't be done using String.Format. However its not really that hard to write a function to do it.

public static string AddOrdinal(int num)
{
    if( num <= 0 ) return num.ToString();

    switch(num % 100)
    {
        case 11:
        case 12:
        case 13:
            return num + "th";
    }

    switch(num % 10)
    {
        case 1:
            return num + "st";
        case 2:
            return num + "nd";
        case 3:
            return num + "rd";
        default:
            return num + "th";
    }

}

Update: Technically Ordinals don't exist for <= 0, so I've updated the code above. Also removed the redundant ToString() methods.

Also note, this is not internationalised. I've no idea what ordinals look like in other languages.