Using String Format to show decimal up to 2 places or simple integer

This is a common formatting floating number use case.

Unfortunately, all of the built-in one-letter format strings (eg. F, G, N) won't achieve this directly.
For example, num.ToString("F2") will always show 2 decimal places like 123.40.

You'll have to use 0.## pattern even it looks a little verbose.

A complete code example:

double a = 123.4567;
double b = 123.40;
double c = 123.00;

string sa = a.ToString("0.##"); // 123.46
string sb = b.ToString("0.##"); // 123.4
string sc = c.ToString("0.##"); // 123

An inelegant way would be:

var my = DoFormat(123.0);

With DoFormat being something like:

public static string DoFormat( double myNumber )
{
    var s = string.Format("{0:0.00}", myNumber);

    if ( s.EndsWith("00") )
    {
        return ((int)myNumber).ToString();
    }
    else
    {
        return s;
    }
}

Not elegant but working for me in similar situations in some projects.

Sorry for reactivating this question, but I didn't find the right answer here.

In formatting numbers you can use 0 as a mandatory place and # as an optional place.

So:

// just two decimal places
String.Format("{0:0.##}", 123.4567);      // "123.46"
String.Format("{0:0.##}", 123.4);         // "123.4"
String.Format("{0:0.##}", 123.0);         // "123"

You can also combine 0 with #.

String.Format("{0:0.0#}", 123.4567)       // "123.46"
String.Format("{0:0.0#}", 123.4)          // "123.4"
String.Format("{0:0.0#}", 123.0)          // "123.0"

For this formating method is always used CurrentCulture. For some Cultures . will be changed to ,.

Answer to original question:

The simpliest solution comes from @Andrew (here). So I personally would use something like this:

var number = 123.46;
String.Format(number % 1 == 0 ? "{0:0}" : "{0:0.00}", number)