How to read from and write to a text file by using Visual C# (816149)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual C# .NET (2002)
  • Microsoft Visual C# .NET (2003)
  • Microsoft Visual C# 2005, Express Edition
For a Microsoft Visual Basic .NET version of this article, see 315828.

IN THIS TASK

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to read from and write to a text file by using Visual C# .

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Requirements

The following list outlines the recommended hardware, software, network infrastructure, and service packs that you must have:
  • Visual C# .NET or Visual C# 2005
This article assumes that you are familiar with the following topic:
  • Visual C# .NET or Visual C# 2005
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Read and Write Text Files

The Read a Text File section of this article describes how to use the StreamReader class to read a text file. The Write a Text File (Example 1) and the Write a Text File (Example 2) sections describe how to use the StreamWriter class to write text to a file.

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Read a Text File

The following code uses the StreamReader class to open, to read, and to close the text file. You can pass the path name of a text file to the StreamReader constructor to open the file automatically. The ReadLine method reads each line of text, and increments the file pointer to the next line as it reads. When the ReadLine method reaches the end of the file, it returns a null reference.
  1. Create a sample text file in Notepad. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Paste the following text in Notepad:
      hello world
    2. Save the file as Sample.txt.
  2. Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET or Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
  3. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.
  4. Click Visual C# Projects under Project Types, and then click Console Application under Templates

    Note In Visual Studio 2005, click Visual C# under Project Types, and then click Console Application under Templates.
  5. Add the following code at the beginning of the Class1.cs file:
    using System.IO;
    Note In Visual Studio 2005, the default file is Program.cs.
  6. Add the following code to the Main method:
    String line;
try 
			{
				//Pass the file path and file name to the StreamReader constructor
				StreamReader sr = new StreamReader("C:\\Sample.txt");

				//Read the first line of text
				line = sr.ReadLine();

				//Continue to read until you reach end of file
				while (line != null) 
				{
					//write the lie to console window
					Console.WriteLine(line);
					//Read the next line
					line = sr.ReadLine();
				}

				//close the file
				sr.Close();
				Console.ReadLine();
			}
			catch(Exception e)
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + e.Message);
			}
   finally 
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Executing finally block.");
			}
  7. On the Debug menu, click Start to compile and to run the application. Press ENTER to close the Console window. The Console window displays the contents of the Boot.ini file. Note that the contents of the Boot.ini file may vary from one computer to another. The following output is a sample Boot.ini file:
    [boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional"
/fastdetect
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Write a Text File (Example 1)

The following code uses the StreamWriter class to open, to write, and to close the text file. In a similar way to the StreamReader class, you can pass the path name of a text file to the StreamWriter constructor to open the file automatically. The WriteLine method writes a complete line of text to the text file.
  1. Start Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio 2005.
  2. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.
  3. Click Visual C# Projects under Project Types, and then click Console Application under Templates.

    Note In Visual Studio 2005, click Visual C# under Project Types, and then click CLR Console Application under Templates.
  4. Add the following code at the beginning of the Class1.cs file:
    using System.IO;
  5. Add the following code to the Main method:
    try 
			{

				//Pass the filepath and filename to the StreamWriter Constructor
				StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("C:\\Test.txt");

				//Write a line of text
				sw.WriteLine("Hello World!!");

				//Write a second line of text
				sw.WriteLine("From the StreamWriter class");

				//Close the file
				sw.Close();
			}
			catch(Exception e)
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + e.Message);
			}
			finally 
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Executing finally block.");
			}
  6. On the Debug menu, click Start to compile and to run the application. This code creates a file that is named Test.txt on drive C. Open Test.txt in a text editor such as Notepad. Test.txt contains two lines of text:
    Hello World!!
From the StreamWriter class
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Write a Text File (Example 2)

The following code uses the StreamWriter class to open, to write, and to close the text file. Unlike the previous example, this code passes two additional parameters to the constructor. The first parameter is the file path and the file name of the file. The second parameter, True, specifies that the file is opened in append mode. If you specify False for the second parameter, the contents of the file are overwritten each time you run the code. The third parameter specifies Unicode, so that StreamWriter encodes the file in Unicode format. You can also specify the following encoding methods for the third parameter:
  • ASC11
  • Unicode
  • UTF7
  • UTF8
The Write method is similar to the WriteLine method, except that the Write method does not automatically embed a carriage return or line feed (CR/LF) character combination. This is useful when you want to write one character at a time.
  1. Start Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio 2005.
  2. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.
  3. Click Visual C# Projects under Project Types, and then click Console Application under Templates

    Note In Visual Studio 2005, click Visual C# under Project Types, and then click Console Application under Templates
  4. Add the following code at the beginning of the Class1.cs file:
    using System.IO;
using System.Text;
    Note In Visual Studio 2005, the default file is Program.cs.
  5. Add the following code to the Main method:
    Int64 x;

			try 
			{
				//Open the File
				StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("C:\\Test1.txt", true, Encoding.ASCII);

				//Writeout the numbers 1 to 10 on the same line.
				for(x=0; x < 10; x++)
				{
					sw.Write(x);
				}

				//close the file
				sw.Close();
			}
			catch(Exception e)
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + e.Message);
			}
			finally 
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Executing finally block.");
			}
  6. On the Debug menu, click Start to compile and to run the application. This code creates a file that is named Test1.txt on drive C. Open Test1.txt in a text editor such as Notepad. Test1.txt contains a single line of text: 
    0123456789
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Complete Code Listing

  • Read a Text File
    //Read a Text File
using System;
using System.IO;

namespace readwriteapp
{
	class Class1
	{
		[STAThread]
		static void Main(string[] args)
		{
		
			String line;

		try 
			{
				//Pass the file path and file name to the StreamReader constructor
				StreamReader sr = new StreamReader("C:\\boot.ini");

				//Read the first line of text
				line = sr.ReadLine();

				//Continue to read until you reach end of file
				while (line != null) 
				{
					//write the lie to console window
					Console.WriteLine(line);
					//Read the next line
					line = sr.ReadLine();
				}

				//close the file
				sr.Close();
				Console.ReadLine();
			}
			catch(Exception e)
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + e.Message);
			}
			finally 
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Executing finally block.");
			}
		}
	}
}
  • Write a Text File (Version 1)
    //Write a text file - Version-1
using System;
using System.IO;

namespace readwriteapp
{
	class Class1
	{
		[STAThread]
		static void Main(string[] args) 
		{
			try 
			{

				//Pass the filepath and filename to the StreamWriter Constructor
				StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("C:\\Test.txt");

				//Write a line of text
				sw.WriteLine("Hello World!!");

				//Write a second line of text
				sw.WriteLine("From the StreamWriter class");

				//Close the file
				sw.Close();
			}
			catch(Exception e)
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + e.Message);
			}
			finally 
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Executing finally block.");
			}
		}
	}
}
  • Write a Text File (Version 2)
    //Write a text file  - Version 2
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;

namespace readwriteapp
{
	class Class1
	{
		[STAThread]
		static void Main(string[] args) 
		{
		   
			Int64 x;

			try 
			{
				//Open the File
				StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("C:\\Test1.txt", true, Encoding.ASCII);

				//Writeout the numbers 1 to 10 on the same line.
				for(x=0; x < 10; x++)
				{
					sw.Write(x);
				}

				//close the file
				sw.Close();
			}
			catch(Exception e)
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + e.Message);
			}
			finally 
			{
				Console.WriteLine("Executing finally block.");
			}
		}
	}
}

Troubleshoot

For all file manipulations, it is good programming practice to wrap the code inside a try-catch-finally block to handle errors and exceptions. Specifically, you may want to release handles to the file in the final block so that the file is not locked indefinitely. Some possible errors include a file that does not exist, or a file that is already in use.

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REFERENCES

For more information, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web sites:

StreamReader Class
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemiostreamreaderclasstopic.asp

StreamWriter Class
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemiostreamwriterclasstopic.asp

For more information, visit the following Microsoft GotDotNET Web sites:

How Do I...Read a text file?
http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/howto/doc/Anagrams.aspx

How Do I...Read and write large files?
http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/howto/doc/LargeReadWrite.aspx

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Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:1/19/2006
Keywords:kbFileIO kbConsole kbHOWTOmaster kbhowto KB816149 kbAudDeveloper
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