Formatting a string: truncating or padding

I need to take a string of any length & make it exactly 5 characters long by either truncating it or padding it or neither.
So "abcdefgh" becomes "abcde", "abcde" stays "abcde" & "abc" becomes "abc " (2 spaces at the end).

I currently use this line of code:

Code:

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Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left(myString, 5).PadRight(5, " "c)

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it works, but it seems very hackish. Can anyone see a more elegant way? Thanks...

I would use var.PadRight(5).Substring(0, 5) but other than that I can't see any issues?

i can't improve it other than using uptodate .net methods:

vb Code:

MsgBox(myString.Substring(0, Math.Min(myString.Length, 5)).PadRight(5, " "c) & "|") 'added | for a visual cue

Code:

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        Dim foo() As String = New String() {"abcdefgh", "edcba", "xyz"} 'strings to test

        For Each s As String In foo
            Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder(s)
            sb.Append("    ")
            sb.Length = 5
            Debug.WriteLine(sb.ToString)

            'or
            's = s.PadRight(5, " "c).Substring(0, 5)
            s = s.PadRight(5, "*"c).Substring(0, 5) 'test
            Debug.WriteLine(s)
            Debug.WriteLine("")
        Next

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