Q: What is a Sharestring?

A: Sharestrings evolved as a way you could share the details of your city with another player. A sharestring is basically a way to describe your city by just using text.

Example Sharestring:

[ShareString.1.3];########################,--.M-;#-.-:-:-#####------1-#---:3:3C###----:3C:-#.--C3A3C-##-:--:3A3-#--.-SC:--##3:3--3#######------##3AC--##,,,C.##---1-##:33,##,444444##1M-C##::-,#4D4CD,,--#-;1;##----#-C2244-1-#----#######-..LTCC-M#######----#--22S--1-#SL2.##-11-#:-CC3C--;#-22.##-MC-##--:3A:-##C...##-11--##-:3:3##--222##---C--#######--__LC##--1-1-,44#P:--_##_-##-;-M--,,D#P---_###_###-1C1-444#-,-B-_#######-;-----#--BGB-_########################[/ShareString]

It may make more sense if you see it in a more readable format:

#####################
###,—.—;#-.-:-:---###
##-C------#222:3:3-##
#-333:--:-#.L2-3A3--#
#-:A3:----#22.—3:---#
#3:33--#######----- #
#3ACC-##,,,-.##-----#
#:33,##,4444--##----#
#::-,#4D4CD,,--#-;-;#
#----#222244---#----#
######L..LT----######
#----#2222-----#-L2.#
#----#:C3C333-;#222.#
#----##A3:3A:-##C...#
#-----##3:3:3##--222#
#------#######----L-#
#------,—-#-:-—---—-#
#-;——,,—--#----—----#
##------—-#-,-— _--##
###-;-----#------_###
#####################

Each letter represents a block in your city. If you look closely you’ll see the walls and right in the middle is a “T” for the town hall. It frankly doesn’t really matter that you know a period stands for trees or a semi-colon is a lake. All that really matters is that you understand that this is the format used to export a city in and out of the various tools like city planners.