>
>(not finished since I now need replicate function in C# - I found this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3754582/is-there-an-easy-way-to-return-a-string-repeated-x-number-of-times and wondering if I should go with String.Concat or create an extension - (if we don't have it already).

Just use something like "".PadLeft(5, '*')

Or whatever length/char you want to repeat.