Read attributes from text file

sabine

Hi,
I need to read lines from a .txt or .csv file (not sure yet of the extension) where the data is ';' delimited.
I will use the below code:
int counter = 0;
string line;

// Read the file and display it line by line.
System.IO.StreamReader file =
   new System.IO.StreamReader("c:\\test.txt");
while((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
{
   Console.WriteLine (line);
   counter++;
}

file.Close();

// Suspend the screen.
Console.ReadLine();

But what I need to know is, on each line I have 4 attributes seperates with ';' how can i read each attribute seperatly and save it in a string value?
Thank you in advance

3 Replies

Know the answer? Post it — somebody with the same question will find it here.

Vulpes14y ago
The problem is that you have an extra tr.ReadLine() in your while statement which is causing the second line to be skipped.

I also notice that you're now reading 3 rather than 4 attributes in each line and so your Console.WriteLine() needs adjustment.

Your while statement should now look like this:

while((readLine = tr.ReadLine()) != null)
{
readLine = readLine.Trim();
if (readLine == "") continue; // ignore blank lines
string[] items = readLine.Split(';');
accountName = items[0];
contactFName = items[1];
contactLName = items[2];

Console.WriteLine("attr1 = {0}, attr2 = {1}, attr3 = {2}", accountName, contactFName, contactLName);

counter++;
}
sabine14y ago
Hi,
Below is the code I'm using:
int counter = 0;
                string readLine;
                string accountName= "";
                string contactFName = "";
                string contactLName ="";

                StreamReader tr = new StreamReader("text.txt");
                // Read header
                tr.ReadLine();
                counter++;
                while((readLine = tr.ReadLine()) != null)
                {
                    tr.ReadLine();
                    readLine = readLine.Trim();
                    if (readLine == "") continue; // ignore blank lines
                    string[] items = readLine.Split(';');
                    accountName = items[0];
                    contactFName = items[1];
                    contactLName = items[2];

                    Console.WriteLine("attr1 = {0}, attr2 = {1}, attr3 = {2}, attr4 = {3}" + accountName + contactFName + contactLName);

                    counter++;
                }
                tr.Close();

In my files, I am having the header and two lines of data but the issue is that this code is reading only 1 line of data.
How can I make it loop on all the data lines?
Thank you again
Vulpes14y ago
Try something like this:

while((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
{
line = line.Trim();
if (line == "") continue; // ignore blank lines
string[] items = line.Split(';');
string attr1 = items[0];
string attr2 = items[1];
string attr3 = items[2];
string attr4 = items[3];
Console.WriteLine ("attr1 = {0}, attr2 = {1}, attr3 = {2}, attr4 = {3}", attr1, attr2, attr3, attr4);
counter++;
}