Question

What is the best format to communicate an array of strings in one string to users who are not geeks?

I could do it like this:

Item1, Item2, Item3

But that becomes meaningless when the strings contain spaces and commas.

I could also do it this way:

"Item1", "Item2", "Item3"

However, I would like to avoid escaping the array elements because escaped characters can be confusing to the uninitiated.

Edit: I should have clarified that I need the formatted string to be one-line. Basically, I have a list of lists displayed in a .Net Winforms ListView (although this question is language-agnostic). I need to show the users a one-line “snapshot” of the list next to the list’s name in the ListView, so they get a general idea of what the list contains.

Answer 1

You can pick a character like pipe (|) which are not used much outside programs. It also used in wiki markup for tables which may be intuitive to those who are familiar with wiki markup.

Item1| Item2| Item3