What is the best CSV reader library for C#

Željko Perić

4y1.1kLearn iOS Programming

Hello,

What is the best CSV reader library for C# ?

All the best,

Željko Peric

6 Replies

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

Srinivasan Ramamoorthi4y ago
Accepted answer
You can check this article

https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/how-to-read-data-from-csv-file-in-c-sharp/
+3
satheesh d4y ago
In C#, we can use the Nuget package manager in order to load the data from the CSV file to a data table.We can use Lumen CSV Reader package to read the CSV file in C#. We can instal this package in Nuget Package Manager in Visual Studio.
After that we need to add the namespace for the reference of this package.Using LumenWorks.Framework.IO.Csv;
Using LumenWorks.Framework.IO.Csv;
var NewTable = new DataTable();
using (var csvReader = new CsvReader(new StreamReader(System.IO.File.OpenRead(@"File path")), true))
{
NewTable.Load(csvReader);
}
We can create the model properties ie model class for the CSV file. then after extracting data from CSV to data table, we need to add all the rows to th list with respect to propery binding.
There are other methods like CSV Helper, Sylvan are also used to read the CSV files in C#.
+1
Željko Perić4y ago
Thanks You all for answers.
After lot of testing I have selected library that is best for me, it is :

LumenWorks.Framework.IO
https://www.nuget.org/packages/LumenWorks.Framework.IO/

So the correct and selected answer for me is answer given by
https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/members/srinivasan-ramamoorthi

Here is a peace of program code I have used for reading CSV dokument containig values stored from table 1010470 rows by 16 columns. Values are read from document and stored to Table type of string for furder use.
Document size is ~91,2 MB.
Average read / store time is 3,1 second.
It is about 10% faster than same program written using CSVHelper.
Faster than this is possible only if I upgrade hardware on my computer with faster HD drive as SSD drive, faster processor, etc.
using System;
using System.IO;
using LumenWorks.Framework.IO;

namespace CSV_Reader
{
    class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            const string CSV_File_Path = "Q3.csv";

            StreamReader stream = new StreamReader(System.IO.File.OpenRead(CSV_File_Path));

            var LumenWorks_Reader = new LumenWorks.Framework.IO.Csv.CsvReader(stream, false);

            string [,] Table = new string[1100000, 20];
            int row = 0;
            while (LumenWorks_Reader.ReadNextRecord())
            {
                Table[row, 0] = LumenWorks_Reader[0];
                Table[row, 1] = LumenWorks_Reader[1];
                Table[row, 2] = LumenWorks_Reader[2];
                Table[row, 3] = LumenWorks_Reader[3];
                Table[row, 4] = LumenWorks_Reader[4];
                Table[row, 5] = LumenWorks_Reader[5];
                Table[row, 6] = LumenWorks_Reader[6];
                Table[row, 7] = LumenWorks_Reader[7];
                Table[row, 8] = LumenWorks_Reader[8];
                Table[row, 9] = LumenWorks_Reader[9];
                Table[row, 10] = LumenWorks_Reader[10];
                Table[row, 11] = LumenWorks_Reader[11];
                Table[row, 12] = LumenWorks_Reader[12];
                Table[row, 13] = LumenWorks_Reader[13];
                Table[row, 14] = LumenWorks_Reader[14];
                Table[row, 15] = LumenWorks_Reader[15];

                row++;
            }

            stream.Close();
            stream.Dispose();

            LumenWorks_Reader.Dispose();

            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue . . . ");
            Console.ReadKey(true);
        }
    }
}
Thanks to
https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/members/sachinsingh
https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/members/bohdan-stupak
https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/members/geetha-geetha9

By the way , sometimes the best solution does not mean the fastest,
simplicity of use counts also.

All the best,
Željko Peric
+1
geetha geetha4y ago
You have to install CSV helper in nuget packge manager.
It is a .net opensource library.
CSVhelper is used to read all the CSV files.

CSVHelper is the library for reading and writing the CSV files.
It is extreamly fast and flexible.
+2
Sachin Singh4y ago
Sylvan.Data.Csv is also a good choice and performance is slightly better than CsvHelper, however both are good.
Test both for 1M rows and then select.
+2
Bohdan Stupak4y ago
In my opinion the best one is CsvHelper. We use it in production to load files with 2M rows. The most useful features are ability to add field mappings and ability to load rows as IEnumerable so big files are not loaded in memory instantly but can be read row by row
+2