Reading delimited text file to an array

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C#

Can anyone help me out with the syntax of reading a text file to an array with a delimiter " "(Empty space).

Posted 19-Jul-11 22:28pm

Sufi Saint

Updated 20-Jul-11 21:55pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

v2

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Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 21-Jul-11 3:55am

Removed unrelated tag ASP.NET.
--SA

5 solutions

Solution 1

string line;
string[] splittedLine;
// 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)
{
  splittedLine = line.Split(' ');
  // now you have an array of string[]
}

file.Close();

Posted 19-Jul-11 22:35pm

Herman<T>.Instance

v2

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This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Mario Majčica · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-19T22:38:00

This can be a complex as also an easy solution.

If you file is a small one, then a solution can be very basic

string text = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(@"C:\Users\Public\TestFolder\WriteText.txt");
string[] splittedText = text.Split(' ');

or even in one line

string[] splittedText = File.ReadAllText(@"C:\Users\Public\TestFolder\WriteText.txt").Split(' ');

Otherwise, be more precise on the request and I will point you to the proper direction.

Cheers

EDIT:

Based on the comments here are two quick solutions,

first one, if you are not managing the possible conversion errors

C#

string[] splittedText = File.ReadAllText(@"C:\Users\Public\TestFolder\WriteText.txt").Split(' ');
int[] numbersArray = Array.ConvertAll<string, int>(splittedText, delegate(string str) { return int.Parse(str); });

But as already mentioned, this wel generate an exception if there is a string that can't be parsed...

Or a more orthodox way:

C#

string[] splittedText = File.ReadAllText(@"C:\Users\Public\TestFolder\WriteText.txt").Split(' ');

List<int> numbers = new List<int>();
int b;

foreach (string digit in splittedText)
{
    if (int.TryParse(digit, out b))
        numbers.Add(b);
}

int[] numbersArray = numbers.ToArray();

Hope this helps.

Keith Barrow · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-19T22:52:00

It depends on the size of your file and how much effort you want to put. If the files aren't large you can use Stream Reader's ReadToEnd[^] to read the entire contents to a string, then use String.Split[^] to fulfill your task.

If the files are large you need to buffer getting the data from the StreamReader, to conserve memory:

If you are actually reading data line-by-line (rather than parsing text for example) you can use StreamReader.ReadLine to process each record individually, this reduces the memory hit.
Read a set of bytes at a time (using the ReadBlock method for example) getting the results into a string and splitting them. One drawback of this method is that it is likely that the last item item will be split across two buffer reads, so you will need to keep the last item of block n the last character is not a space and append the first item of block n+1 if its first character is not
You can just read a byte/char at a time, but this is much slower than option 2IIRC. If you use this method you can just build a string for the current word and add it to the array once you hit the next space.

Hope this helps

Abhinav S · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-19T22:35:00

Solution 3

Try

C#

char[] sep = new char[] { ' ' };
myArray = myText.Split(sep);

Posted 19-Jul-11 22:35pm

Abhinav S

Comments

Keith Barrow 20-Jul-11 5:20am

I think the difficulty might be getting the text from the file :). Not my 1-vote BTW.

Abhinav S 21-Jul-11 4:04am

Point noted. And I thought the OP already had that.

Mohammad A Rahman · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-19T22:52:00

Solution 5

I hope it helps,

C#

string fileName = @"c:\temp\test.txt";
var result = File.ReadLines(fileName).Select(line => line.Split(new char[] { ' ' }));

:)

Posted 19-Jul-11 22:52pm

Mohammad A Rahman

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 21-Jul-11 4:00am

Limited applicability (small files; see the solution by Keith Barrow), but elegant use of Select. My 5. Disagree with the vote of 1.
--SA

Mohammad A Rahman 21-Jul-11 4:06am

Thank you SA. :)

Reading delimited text file to an array

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