Problem with Reading txt files and adding into array

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Hello I been working on a project that involves reading data from several txt files in several folders. The txt files contain data mostly numbers for example;

test.txt
1001 1200 1300 1400 1500
1400 7100 6500 8500 6000
5000 3000 4000 5000 2000
6000 2200 6333 0000 0000
...

I can read this particular file and divide it into arrays so I can do calculations for every single column with the following code;

C#

List<Double> List1 = new List<Double>();
List<Double> List2 = new List<Double>();
.....

string path = @"H:\test";
string searchPattern = "*.txt";
string[] filePaths = Directory.GetFiles(path, searchPattern, SearchOption.AllDirectories);

for (int x = 0; x < filePaths.Length; x++)
{

    StreamReader file = new System.IO.StreamReader(filePaths[x]);
    string line = file.ReadLine();
    while ((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
    {
        string[] data = line.Split(' ');
        List1.Add(Convert.ToDouble(data[0]));
        List2.Add(Convert.ToDouble(data[1]));
        ....

    }
    Double[] L1Array = List1.ToArray();
    Double[] L2Array = List2.ToArray();
    ...

This part of code works very well and gets me what I want but when I try to get data from a different file that is not only digits but letters with the same code as above for example;

test2.txt
Name = Marc
Surname = Lauren
Gender = Male
...
ID = 123456789

where I been trying to get only ID value (123466789) into an Array I keep encountering the error;

An unhandled exception of type 'System.FormatException' occurred in mscorlib.dll

Additional information: String must be exactly one character long.

I also tried changing the code as following;

StreamReader file = new System.IO.StreamReader(filePaths[x]);
string line = file.ReadLine();
while ((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
{
char[] delimiters = new char[] { '\r', '\n', ' ', '='};
string[] data = line.Split(delimiters, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

I am not very good in c# and couldn't find a way around it.

I would be Glad if you could help me out.
Thank you

Posted 17-May-15 10:37am

Yol_Gezer

Updated 17-May-15 11:05am

v3

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Comments

FrostedSyntax 17-May-15 18:41pm

Would using Regex be a viable solution to getting just the id number? Something like "\d{9}". Or at least using the Split method in the Regex class instead of in the string class like: new Regex(@"[\s=]").Split(line);

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 17-May-15 19:57pm

In what line, with what data?
—SA

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 1 · 2015-05-17T13:57:00

Not clear why would you use such primitive data format…

But the solution of the problem is simple: just write the code accurately. Use the debugger and accurate approaches. Your code shown many problems related to lack of neatness.

First, you don't dispose your instances of the StreamReader. This is the correct pattern:

C#

using (StreamReader reader = new System.IO.StreamReader(filePaths[index])) {
   string line = reader.ReadLine();
   //...
} // reader.Dispose is automatically called here

Makes sure you know all types implementing the interface System.IDisposable and make sure you call Dispose, via the using statement (not to be confused with using directive) or not:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.idisposable%28v=vs.110%29.aspx[^],
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yh598w02.aspx[^].

Don't use variable/type/member names line <codex>x (I renamed it to <code>index.) Use semantically sensitive names, in correct English spelling, without abbreviations.

Don't hard-code immediate constants like strings '\r', '\n', ' ', '='. Explicitly define constants or <code>readonly static members; in other cases, use the resources.

Now, if you read the whole file using reader.ReadLine(), you never need '\r', '\n'. Just know how your file is generated and use exact delimiters which can be there.

Two big mistakes are in the lines like List1.Add(Convert.ToDouble(data[0]));. Again, never use bad names line List1. Don't hard-code 0, 1, etc. Instead, use the number of element in the array returned by string.Split and use the loop. And finally, don't use Convert.ToDouble. This is what it is: parsing, not "conversion". Please understand that parsing can be successful or failed. Instead, use double.TryParse: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.double.tryparse%28v=vs.110%29.aspx[^].

And so on…

When you rewrite your code in a neat way, if you still have any concerns about runtime, try to debug it using the debugger. Anyway, CodeProject questions on some exception without finding out what's going wrong under the debugger makes little sense…

—SA