I'm writing a simple import application and need to read a CSV file, show result in a DataGrid and show corrupted lines of the CSV file in another grid. For example, show the lines that are shorter than 5 values in another grid. I'm trying to do that like this:
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(FilePath);
importingData = new Account();
string line;
string[] row = new string [5];
while ((line = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
{
row = line.Split(',');
importingData.Add(new Transaction
{
Date = DateTime.Parse(row[0]),
Reference = row[1],
Description = row[2],
Amount = decimal.Parse(row[3]),
Category = (Category)Enum.Parse(typeof(Category), row[4])
});
}
but it's very difficult to operate on arrays in this case. Is there a better way to split the values?
Don't reinvent the wheel. Take advantage of what's already in .NET BCL.
add a reference to the Microsoft.VisualBasic (yes, it says VisualBasic but it works in C# just as well - remember that at the end it is all just IL)
use the Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser class to parse CSV file
Here is the sample code:
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(#"c:\temp\test.csv"))
{
parser.TextFieldType = FieldType.Delimited;
parser.SetDelimiters(",");
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
//Processing row
string[] fields = parser.ReadFields();
foreach (string field in fields)
{
//TODO: Process field
}
}
}
It works great for me in my C# projects.
Here are some more links/informations:
MSDN: Read From Comma-Delimited Text Files in Visual Basic
MSDN: TextFieldParser Class
I recommend CsvHelper from NuGet.
PS: Regarding other more upvoted answers, I'm sorry but adding a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic is:
Ugly
Not cross-platform, because it's not available in .NETCore/.NET5 (and Mono never had very good support of Visual Basic, so it may be buggy).
My experience is that there are many different csv formats. Specially how they handle escaping of quotes and delimiters within a field.
These are the variants I have ran into:
quotes are quoted and doubled (excel) i.e. 15" -> field1,"15""",field3
quotes are not changed unless the field is quoted for some other reason. i.e. 15" -> field1,15",fields3
quotes are escaped with \. i.e. 15" -> field1,"15\"",field3
quotes are not changed at all (this is not always possible to parse correctly)
delimiter is quoted (excel). i.e. a,b -> field1,"a,b",field3
delimiter is escaped with \. i.e. a,b -> field1,a\,b,field3
I have tried many of the existing csv parsers but there is not a single one that can handle the variants I have ran into. It is also difficult to find out from the documentation which escaping variants the parsers support.
In my projects I now use either the VB TextFieldParser or a custom splitter.
Sometimes using libraries are cool when you do not want to reinvent the wheel, but in this case one can do the same job with fewer lines of code and easier to read compared to using libraries.
Here is a different approach which I find very easy to use.
In this example, I use StreamReader to read the file
Regex to detect the delimiter from each line(s).
An array to collect the columns from index 0 to n
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(fileName))
{
string line;
while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
{
//Define pattern
Regex CSVParser = new Regex(",(?=(?:[^\"]*\"[^\"]*\")*(?![^\"]*\"))");
//Separating columns to array
string[] X = CSVParser.Split(line);
/* Do something with X */
}
}
CSV can get complicated real fast.
Use something robust and well-tested:
FileHelpers:
www.filehelpers.net
The FileHelpers are a free and easy to use .NET library to import/export data from fixed length or delimited records in files, strings or streams.
Another one to this list, Cinchoo ETL - an open source library to read and write CSV files
For a sample CSV file below
Id, Name
1, Tom
2, Mark
Quickly you can load them using library as below
using (var reader = new ChoCSVReader("test.csv").WithFirstLineHeader())
{
foreach (dynamic item in reader)
{
Console.WriteLine(item.Id);
Console.WriteLine(item.Name);
}
}
If you have POCO class matching the CSV file
public class Employee
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
You can use it to load the CSV file as below
using (var reader = new ChoCSVReader<Employee>("test.csv").WithFirstLineHeader())
{
foreach (var item in reader)
{
Console.WriteLine(item.Id);
Console.WriteLine(item.Name);
}
}
Please check out articles at CodeProject on how to use it.
Disclaimer: I'm the author of this library
I use this here:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/database/GenericParser.aspx
Last time I was looking for something like this I found it as an answer to this question.
private static DataTable ConvertCSVtoDataTable(string strFilePath)
{
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(strFilePath))
{
string[] headers = sr.ReadLine().Split(',');
foreach (string header in headers)
{
dt.Columns.Add(header);
}
while (!sr.EndOfStream)
{
string[] rows = sr.ReadLine().Split(',');
DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
for (int i = 0; i < headers.Length; i++)
{
dr[i] = rows[i];
}
dt.Rows.Add(dr);
}
}
return dt;
}
private static void WriteToDb(DataTable dt)
{
string connectionString =
"Data Source=localhost;" +
"Initial Catalog=Northwind;" +
"Integrated Security=SSPI;";
using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
{
using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("spInsertTest", con))
{
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
cmd.Parameters.Add("#policyID", SqlDbType.Int).Value = 12;
cmd.Parameters.Add("#statecode", SqlDbType.VarChar).Value = "blagh2";
cmd.Parameters.Add("#county", SqlDbType.VarChar).Value = "blagh3";
con.Open();
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
}
}
Here's a solution I coded up today for a situation where I needed to parse a CSV without relying on external libraries. I haven't tested performance for large files since it wasn't relevant to my particular use case but I'd expect it to perform reasonably well for most situations.
static List<List<string>> ParseCsv(string csv) {
var parsedCsv = new List<List<string>>();
var row = new List<string>();
string field = "";
bool inQuotedField = false;
for (int i = 0; i < csv.Length; i++) {
char current = csv[i];
char next = i == csv.Length - 1 ? ' ' : csv[i + 1];
// if current character is not a quote or comma or carriage return or newline (or not a quote and currently in an a quoted field), just add the character to the current field text
if ((current != '"' && current != ',' && current != '\r' && current != '\n') || (current != '"' && inQuotedField)) {
field += current;
} else if (current == ' ' || current == '\t') {
continue; // ignore whitespace outside a quoted field
} else if (current == '"') {
if (inQuotedField && next == '"') { // quote is escaping a quote within a quoted field
i++; // skip escaping quote
field += current;
} else if (inQuotedField) { // quote signifies the end of a quoted field
row.Add(field);
if (next == ',') {
i++; // skip the comma separator since we've already found the end of the field
}
field = "";
inQuotedField = false;
} else { // quote signifies the beginning of a quoted field
inQuotedField = true;
}
} else if (current == ',') { //
row.Add(field);
field = "";
} else if (current == '\n') {
row.Add(field);
parsedCsv.Add(new List<string>(row));
field = "";
row.Clear();
}
}
return parsedCsv;
}
First of all need to understand what is CSV and how to write it.
Every next string ( /r/n ) is next "table" row.
"Table" cells is separated by some delimiter symbol. Most often used symbols is \t or ,
Every cell possibly can contain this delimiter symbol (cell must to start with quotes symbol and ends with this symbol in this case)
Every cell possibly can contains /r/n sybols (cell must to start with quotes symbol and ends with this symbol in this case)
The easiest way for C#/Visual Basic to work with CSV files is to use standard Microsoft.VisualBasic library. You just need to add needed reference, and the following string to your class:
using Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO;
Yes, you can use it in C#, don't worry. This library can read relatively big files and supports all of needed rules, so you will be able to work with all of CSV files.
Some time ago I had wrote simple class for CSV read/write based on this library. Using this simple class you will be able to work with CSV like with 2 dimensions array.
You can find my class by the following link:
https://github.com/ukushu/DataExporter
Simple example of using:
Csv csv = new Csv("\t");//delimiter symbol
csv.FileOpen("c:\\file1.csv");
var row1Cell6Value = csv.Rows[0][5];
csv.AddRow("asdf","asdffffff","5")
csv.FileSave("c:\\file2.csv");
To complete the previous answers, one may need a collection of objects from his CSV File, either parsed by the TextFieldParser or the string.Split method, and then each line converted to an object via Reflection. You obviously first need to define a class that matches the lines of the CSV file.
I used the simple CSV Serializer from Michael Kropat found here: Generic class to CSV (all properties)
and reused his methods to get the fields and properties of the wished class.
I deserialize my CSV file with the following method:
public static IEnumerable<T> ReadCsvFileTextFieldParser<T>(string fileFullPath, string delimiter = ";") where T : new()
{
if (!File.Exists(fileFullPath))
{
return null;
}
var list = new List<T>();
var csvFields = GetAllFieldOfClass<T>();
var fieldDict = new Dictionary<int, MemberInfo>();
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(fileFullPath))
{
parser.SetDelimiters(delimiter);
bool headerParsed = false;
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
//Processing row
string[] rowFields = parser.ReadFields();
if (!headerParsed)
{
for (int i = 0; i < rowFields.Length; i++)
{
// First row shall be the header!
var csvField = csvFields.Where(f => f.Name == rowFields[i]).FirstOrDefault();
if (csvField != null)
{
fieldDict.Add(i, csvField);
}
}
headerParsed = true;
}
else
{
T newObj = new T();
for (int i = 0; i < rowFields.Length; i++)
{
var csvFied = fieldDict[i];
var record = rowFields[i];
if (csvFied is FieldInfo)
{
((FieldInfo)csvFied).SetValue(newObj, record);
}
else if (csvFied is PropertyInfo)
{
var pi = (PropertyInfo)csvFied;
pi.SetValue(newObj, Convert.ChangeType(record, pi.PropertyType), null);
}
else
{
throw new Exception("Unhandled case.");
}
}
if (newObj != null)
{
list.Add(newObj);
}
}
}
}
return list;
}
public static IEnumerable<MemberInfo> GetAllFieldOfClass<T>()
{
return
from mi in typeof(T).GetMembers(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Static)
where new[] { MemberTypes.Field, MemberTypes.Property }.Contains(mi.MemberType)
let orderAttr = (ColumnOrderAttribute)Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(mi, typeof(ColumnOrderAttribute))
orderby orderAttr == null ? int.MaxValue : orderAttr.Order, mi.Name
select mi;
}
I'd highly suggest using CsvHelper.
Here's a quick example:
public class csvExampleClass
{
public string Id { get; set; }
public string Firstname { get; set; }
public string Lastname { get; set; }
}
var items = DeserializeCsvFile<List<csvExampleClass>>( csvText );
public static List<T> DeserializeCsvFile<T>(string text)
{
CsvReader csv = new CsvReader( new StringReader( text ) );
csv.Configuration.Delimiter = ",";
csv.Configuration.HeaderValidated = null;
csv.Configuration.MissingFieldFound = null;
return (List<T>)csv.GetRecords<T>();
}
Full documentation can be found at: https://joshclose.github.io/CsvHelper
Related
I have a txt file, that has headers and then 3 columns of values (i.e)
Description=null
area = 100
1,2,3
1,2,4
2,1,5 ...
... 1,2,1//(these are the values that I need in one list)
Then another segment
Description=null
area = 10
1,2,3
1,2,4
2,1,5 ...
... 1,2,1//(these are the values that I need in one list).
In fact I just need one list per "Table" of values, the values always are in 3 columns but, there are n segments, any idea?
Thanks!
List<double> VMM40xyz = new List<double>();
foreach (var item in VMM40blocklines)
{
if (item.Contains(','))
{
VMM40xyz.AddRange(item.Split(',').Select(double.Parse).ToList());
}
}
I tried this, but it just work with the values in just one big list.
It looks like you want your data to end up in a format like this:
public class SetOfData //Feel free to name these parts better.
{
public string Description = "";
public string Area = "";
public List<double> Data = new List<double>();
}
...stored somewhere in...
List<SetOfData> finalData = new List<SetOfData>();
So, here's how I'd read that in:
public static List<SetOfData> ReadCustomFile(string Filename)
{
if (!File.Exists(Filename))
{
throw new FileNotFoundException($"{Filename} does not exist.");
}
List<SetOfData> returnData = new List<SetOfData>();
SetOfData currentDataSet = null;
using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(Filename, FileMode.Open))
{
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(fs))
{
while (!reader.EndOfStream)
{
string line = reader.ReadLine();
//This will start a new object on every 'Description' line.
if (line.Contains("Description="))
{
//Save off the old data set if there is one.
if (currentDataSet != null)
returnData.Add(currentDataSet);
currentDataSet = new SetOfData();
//Now, to make sure there is something after "Description=" and to set the Description if there is.
//Your example data used "null" here, which this will take literally to be a string containing the letters "null". You can check the contents of parts[1] inside the if block to change this.
string[] parts = line.Split('=');
if (parts.Length > 1)
currentDataSet.Description = parts[1].Trim();
}
else if (line.Contains("area = "))
{
//Just in case your file didn't start with a "Description" line for some reason.
if (currentDataSet == null)
currentDataSet = new SetOfData();
//And then we do some string splitting like we did for Description.
string[] parts = line.Split('=');
if (parts.Length > 1)
currentDataSet.Area = parts[1].Trim();
}
else
{
//Just in case your file didn't start with a "Description" line for some reason.
if (currentDataSet == null)
currentDataSet = new SetOfData();
string[] parts = line.Split(',');
foreach (string part in parts)
{
if (double.TryParse(part, out double number))
{
currentDataSet.Data.Add(number);
}
}
}
}
//Make sure to add the last set.
returnData.Add(currentDataSet);
}
}
return returnData;
}
Although several C# methods in regards to the conversion of a CSV file to DataTable exist online, none of them seems to replicate Excel - Convert Text to Columns. To illustrate my point, suppose the following sample CSV is used:
" FIRst row DATA T"
;;
"Excel versus Csharp" ; ; ; ;
; "MA"; "10000"; "20000"; ; "400000";;; ;; ;;;
"SECOND REPORTING"
"1"; "20"; ; "";"";"";"";"";"";"";
One is expecting (ideally without the double quotes on the string) to obtaining in the DataTable:
FIRst row DATA T
Excel versus Csharp
MA 10000 20000 40000 ...
SECOND REPORTING
1 20 ....
Method used:
public static DataTable CSVQuoteToDataTable(string
csvFilePath)
{
DataTable csvData = new DataTable();
try
{
string[] seps = { "\";", ";\"" };
char[] quotes = { '\"', ' ' };
string[] colFields = null;
foreach (var line in File.ReadLines(csvFilePath)) % targets unfortunately the 1st row as column of the DataTable
{
var fields = line
.Split(seps, StringSplitOptions.None)
.Select(s => s.Trim(quotes).Replace("\\\"", "\""))
.ToArray();
if (colFields == null)
{
colFields = fields;
foreach (string column in colFields)
{
DataColumn datacolumn = new DataColumn(column);
datacolumn.AllowDBNull = true;
csvData.Columns.Add(datacolumn);
}
}
else
{
for (int i = 0; i < fields.Length; i++)
{
if (fields[i] == "")
{
fields[i] = null;
}
}
csvData.Rows.Add(fields);
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
return csvData;
}
Feedback on more efficient or better method would be appreciated.
Thanks
I think you can accomplish most of what you desire with the Nuget extension LumenWorksCsvReader. It will allow you to use a delimiter other than a comma and handle quotes (or not, if you choose).
https://www.nuget.org/packages/LumenWorksCsvReader/
The only problem I see is the variable number of columns, in which case you may have to handle that in your code -- determine the max number of columns and use that. The package will throw an exception when you try to read outside the range, and as clumsy as it may seem, you can just include a try/catch for that.
Bare bones, but something like this should get you started.
using LumenWorks.Framework.IO.Csv;
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(#"c:\cdh\foo.csv"))
{
using (CsvReader reader = new CsvReader(sr, hasHeaders:false, delimiter:';', quote:'"'))
{
while (reader.ReadNextRecord())
{
for (int i = 0; i < maxFieldCount; i++)
{
try
{
string val = reader[i];
// do something with 'val'
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}
}
}
}
I am trying to compare the value in the 0 index of an array on one line and the 0 index on the following line. Imagine a CSV where I have a unique identifier in the first column, a corresponding value in the second column.
USER1, 1P
USER1, 3G
USER2, 1P
USER3, 1V
I would like to check the value of [0] the next line (or previous if that's easier) to compare and if they are the same (as they are in the example) concatenate it to index 1. That is, the data should read as
USER1, 1P, 3G
USER2, 1P
USER3, 1V
before it gets passed onto the next function. So far I have
private void csvParse(string path)
{
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(path))
{
parser.Delimiters = new string[] { "," };
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
string[] parts = parser.ReadFields();
if (parts == null)
{
break;
}
contact.ContactId = parts[0];
long nextLine;
nextLine = parser.LineNumber+1;
//if line1 parts[0] == line2 parts[0] etc.
}
}
}
Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.
How about saving the array into a variable:
private void csvParse(string path)
{
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(path))
{
parser.Delimiters = new string[] { "," };
string[] oldParts = new string[] { string.Empty };
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
string[] parts = parser.ReadFields();
if (parts == null || parts.Length < 1)
{
break;
}
if (oldParts[0] == parts[0])
{
// concat logic goes here
}
else
{
contact.ContactId = parts[0];
}
long nextLine;
nextLine = parser.LineNumber+1;
oldParts = parts;
//if line1 parts[0] == line2 parts[0] etc.
}
}
}
If I understand you correctly, what you are asking is essentially "how do I group the values in the second column based on the values in the first column?".
A quick and quite succinct way of doing this would be to Group By using LINQ:
var linesGroupedByUser =
from line in File.ReadAllLines(path)
let elements = line.Split(',')
let user = new {Name = elements[0], Value = elements[1]}
group user by user.Name into users
select users;
foreach (var user in linesGroupedByUser)
{
string valuesAsString = String.Join(",", user.Select(x => x.Value));
Console.WriteLine(user.Key + ", " + valuesAsString);
}
I have left out the use of your TextFieldParser class, but you can easily use that instead. This approach does, however, require that you can afford to load all of the data into memory. You don't mention whether this is viable.
The easiest way to do something like this is to convert each line to an object. You can use CsvHelper, https://www.nuget.org/packages/CsvHelper/, to do the work for you or you can iterate each line and parse to an object. It is a great tool and it knows how to properly parse CSV files into a collection of objects. Then, whether you create the collection yourself or use CsvHelper, you can use Linq to GroupBy, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb534304(v=vs.100).aspx, your "key" (in this case UserId) and Aggregate, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb549218(v=vs.110).aspx, the other property into a string. Then, you can use the new, grouped by, collection for your end goal (write it to file or use it for whatever you need).
You're basically finding all the unique entries so put them into a dictionary with the contact id as the key. As follows:
private void csvParse(string path)
{
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(path))
{
parser.Delimiters = new string[] { "," };
Dictionary<string, List<string>> uniqueContacts = new Dictionary<string, List<string>>();
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
string[] parts = parser.ReadFields();
if (parts == null || parts.Count() != 2)
{
break;
}
//if contact id not present in dictionary add
if (!uniqueContacts.ContainsKey(parts[0]))
uniqueContacts.Add(parts[0],new List<string>());
//now there's definitely an existing contact in dic (the one
//we've just added or a previously added one) so add to the
//list of strings for that contact
uniqueContacts[parts[0]].Add(parts[1]);
}
//now do something with that dictionary of unique user names and
// lists of strings, for example dump them to console in the
//format you specify:
foreach (var contactId in uniqueContacts.Keys)
{
var sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append($"contactId, ");
foreach (var bit in uniqueContacts[contactId])
{
sb.Append(bit);
if (bit != uniqueContacts[contactId].Last())
sb.Append(", ");
}
Console.WriteLine(sb);
}
}
}
I'm surprised that I haven't seen anything about this on here (or maybe I missed it). When parsing a CSV file, if there are rows with no data, how can/should that be handled? I'm not talking about blank rows, but empty rows, for example:
ID,Name,Quantity,Price
1,Stuff,2,5
2,Things,1,2.5
,,,
,,,
,,,
I am using TextFieldParser to handle commas in data, multiple delimiters, etc. The two solutions I've thought of is to either use ReadLine instead of ReadFields, but that would remove the benefits of using the TextFieldParser, I'd assume, because then I'd have to handle commas a different way. The other option would be to iterate through the fields and drop the row if all of the fields are empty. Here's what I have:
dttExcelTable = new DataTable();
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(fileName))
{
parser.Delimiters = new string[] { ",", "|" };
string[] fields = parser.ReadFields();
if (fields == null)
{
return null;
}
foreach (string columnHeader in fields)
{
dttExcelTable.Columns.Add(columnHeader);
}
while (true)
{
DataRow importedRow = dttExcelTable.NewRow();
fields = parser.ReadFields();
if (fields == null)
{
break;
}
for (int i = 0; i < fields.Length; i++)
{
importedRow[i] = fields[i];
}
foreach (var field in importedRow.ItemArray)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(field.ToString()))
{
dttExcelTable.Rows.Add(importedRow);
break;
}
}
}
}
Without using a thirdy party CSV reader you could change your code in this way
.....
DataRow importedRow = dttExcelTable.NewRow();
for (int i = 0; i < fields.Length; i++)
importedRow[i] = fields[i];
if(!importedRow.ItemArray.All (ia => string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ia.ToString())))
dttExcelTable.Rows.Add(importedRow);
Using the All IEnumerable extension you could check every element of the ItemArray using string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace. If the return is true you have an array of empty string and you could skip the Add
You can just replace commas in the line by nothing and test this if it is null.
strTemp = s.Replace(",", "");
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(strTemp)) { /*code here */}
http://ideone.com/8wKOVD
Doesn't seem like there's really a better solution than the one that I provided. I will just need to loop through all of the fields and see if they are all empty before adding it to my datatable.
The only other solution I've found is Steve's answer, which is to not use TextFieldParser
I know this is literally years later, but I recently had this issue and was able to find a workaround similar to previous responses. You can see the whole flushed out function
public static DataTable CSVToDataTable(IFormFile file)
{
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(file.OpenReadStream()))
{
string[] headers = sr.ReadLine().Split(',');
foreach (string header in headers)
{
dt.Columns.Add(header);
}
var txt = sr.ReadToEnd();
var stringReader = new StringReader(txt);
TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(stringReader);
parser.HasFieldsEnclosedInQuotes = true;
parser.SetDelimiters(",");
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
string[] rows = parser.ReadFields();
string tmpStr = string.Join("", rows);
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(tmpStr))
{
DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
for (int i = 0; i < headers.Length; i++)
{
dr[i] = rows[i];
}
dt.Rows.Add(dr);
}
}
}
return dt;
}
It works for me and has proven fairly reliable. The main snippet is found in the WHILE loop after calling .ReadFields()--I join the returned rows to a string and then check if its nullorempty. Hopefully this can help someone who stumbles upon this.
I've got several text files which should be tab delimited, but actually are delimited by an arbitrary number of spaces. I want to parse the rows from the text file into a DataTable (the first row of the text file has headers for property names). This got me thinking about building an extensible, easy way to parse text files. Here's my current working solution:
string filePath = #"C:\path\lowbirthweight.txt";
//regex to remove multiple spaces
Regex regex = new Regex(#"[ ]{2,}", RegexOptions.Compiled);
DataTable table = new DataTable();
var reader = ReadTextFile(filePath);
//headers in first row
var headers = reader.First();
//skip headers for data
var data = reader.Skip(1).ToArray();
//remove arbitrary spacing between column headers and table data
headers = regex.Replace(headers, #" ");
for (int i = 0; i < data.Length; i++)
{
data[i] = regex.Replace(data[i], #" ");
}
//make ready the DataTable, split resultant space-delimited string into array for column names
foreach (string columnName in headers.Split(' '))
{
table.Columns.Add(new DataColumn() { ColumnName = columnName });
}
foreach (var record in data)
{
//split into array for row values
table.Rows.Add(record.Split(' '));
}
//test prints correctly to the console
Console.WriteLine(table.Rows[0][2]);
}
static IEnumerable<string> ReadTextFile(string fileName)
{
using (var reader = new StreamReader(fileName))
{
while (!reader.EndOfStream)
{
yield return reader.ReadLine();
}
}
}
In my project I've already received several large (gig +) text files that are not in the format in which they are purported to be. So can I see having to write methods such as these with some regularity, albeit with a different regular expression. Is there a way to do something like
data =data.SmartRegex(x => x.AllowOneSpace) where I can use a regular expression to iterate over the collection of strings?
Is something like the following on the right track?
public static class SmartRegex
{
public static Expression AllowOneSpace(this List<string> data)
{
//no idea how to return an expression from a method
}
}
I'm not too overly concerned with performance, just would like to see how something like this works
You should consult with your data source and find out why your data is bad.
As for the API design that you are trying to implement:
public class RegexCollection
{
private readonly Regex _allowOneSpace = new Regex(" ");
public Regex AllowOneSpace { get { return _allowOneSpace; } }
}
public static class RegexExtensions
{
public static IEnumerable<string[]> SmartRegex(
this IEnumerable<string> collection,
Func<RegexCollection, Regex> selector
)
{
var regexCollection = new RegexCollection();
var regex = selector(regexCollection);
return collection.Select(l => regex.Split(l));
}
}
Usage:
var items = new List<string> { "Hello world", "Goodbye world" };
var results = items.SmartRegex(x => x.AllowOneSpace);