Develop Reference

How Can I Read a Multiline Field from a CSV Without Altering It?

I have a CSV that looks like this. My goal is to extract each entry (notice I said entry, not line), where an entry starts from the first column and stretches to the last column, and may span multiple lines. I'd like to extract an entry without ruining the formatting. For example, I do not want the following to be considered four seperate lines,
Eg. 1, One Column Multiple Lines
...,"1. copy ctor
2. copy ctor
3. declares function
4. default ctor",... // Where ... represents the columns before and after
but rather a column in one entry that can be represented as such
Eg. 2, One Column Single Line
"1. copy ctor\n2.copy ctor\ndeclares function\n4.default ctor"
When I iterate over the CSV, as such, I get Eg. 1. I'm not sure why splitting on a comma is treating a new line as a comma.
using (var streamReader = new StreamReader("results-survey111101.csv"))
{
string line;
while ((line = streamReader.ReadLine()) != null)
{
string[] splitLine = line.Split(',');
foreach (var column in splitLine)
Console.WriteLine(column);
}
}
If someone can show me what I need to do to get these multi line CSV columns into one line that maintains the formatting (e.g. adds \t or \n where necessary) that would be great. Thanks!

Assuming your source file is valid CSV, variability in the data is really hard to account for. That's all I'll say, but I'll link you to another SO answer if you need convincing that writing your own CSV parser is a horrible task. Reading CSV files using C#
Let's assume you are going to take advantage of an existing CSV reader library. I'll use TextFieldParser from the Microsoft.VisualBasic library as is used in the example answer I linked.
Your task is to read your source file line by line, and validate whether the line is a complete CSV entry on it's own, or if it forms part of a broken line.
If it forms part of a broken line, we need to remember the line and add the next line to it before attempting validation again.
For this we need to know one thing:
What is the expected number of fields each data entry row should have?
int expectedFieldCount = 7;
string brokenLine = "";
using (var streamReader = new StreamReader("results-survey111101.csv"))
{
string line;
while ((line = streamReader.ReadLine()) != null) // read the next line
{
// if the previous line was incomplete, add it to the current line,
// otherwise use the current line
string csvLineData = (brokenLine.Length > 0) ? brokenLine + line : line;
try
{
using (StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(csvLineData ))
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(stringReader))
{
parser.SetDelimiters(",");
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
string[] fields = parser.ReadFields(); // tests if the line is valid csv
if (expectedFieldCount == fields.Length)
{
// do whatever you want with the fields now.
foreach (var field in fields)
{
Console.WriteLine(field);
}
brokenLine = ""; // reset the brokenLine
}
else // it was valid csv, but we don't have the required number of fields yet
{
brokenLine += line + #"\r\n";
break;
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex) // the current line is NOT valid csv, update brokenLine
{
brokenLine += (line + #"\r\n");
}
}
}
I am replacing the line breaks that broken lines contain with \r\n literals. You can display these in your resulting one-liner field however you want. But you shouldn't expect to be able to copy paste the result into notepad and see line breaks.

One assumes you have the same number of columns in each record. Therefore in your code where you do your Split you can merely sum the length of splitLine into a running columnsReadCount until they equal the desired columnsPerRecordCount. At that point you have read all the record and can reset the running columnsReadCount back to zero ready for the next record to read.

How to read a portion of a line in a text file?

So, I have a text file with thousands of lines formatted similarly to this:
123456:0.8525000:1590882780:91011
These files are almost always a different length, and I only need to read the first two parts of the line, being 123456:0.8525000.
I know that I can split each line using C#, but I'm unsure how to only read the first 2 parts. Anyone have any idea on how to do this? Sorry if my question doesn't make sense, I can restate it if needed.

The Split function returns a string[], an array of strings.
Just take the 2 first elements of the result of Split (with : as the separator).
var read = "123456:0.8525000:1590882780:91011";
var values = read.Split(":");
Console.WriteLine(values[0]); // 123456
Console.WriteLine(values[1]); // 0.8525000
.NET Fiddle
Don't forget that elements of values are string and not yet int or double values. See How to convert string to integer in C# for how to convert from string to number type.

There are TONS of ways to doing this but I am going to suggest some options that involving read the full line as its much easier to work with / understand and that your lines are of varying length. I did add a suggestion on using StreamReader on a file at the end in addendum but you may need to figure out serious work arounds on skipping lines you don't want, restarting a char iterating loop on new lines etc.
I first demonstrate the latest and greatest IAsyncEnumerable found in NetCore 3.x followed by a similar string-based approach. By sharing an Int example that is a slightly advanced and that will also be asynchronous, I hope to also help others and demonstrate a fairly modern approach in 2020. Streaming out only the data you need will be a huge benefit in keeping it fast and a low memory footprint.
public static async IAsyncEnumerable<int> StreamFileOutAsIntsAsync(string filePathName)
{
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(filePathName)) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(filePathName));
if (!File.Exists(filePathName)) throw new ArgumentException($"{filePathName} is not a valid file path.");
using var streamReader = File.OpenText(filePathName);
string currentLine;
while ((currentLine = await streamReader.ReadLineAsync().ConfigureAwait(false)) != null)
{
if (int.TryParse(currentLine.AsSpan(), out var output))
{
yield return output;
}
}
}
This streams every int out of a file, checking that file exists and that the filename path is not null or blank etc.
Streaming maybe too much for a beginner so I don't know your level.
You may want to start with just turning the file into a list of strings.
Modifying my previous example above to something less complex but split your strings for you. I recommend learning about streaming so you don't have every piece of string in memory while you work on it... or maybe you want them all. I am not here to judge.
Once you get your string line out from a file you can do whatever else needs to be done.
public static async Task<List<string>> GetStringsFromFileAsync(string filePathName)
{
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(filePathName)) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(filePathName));
if (!File.Exists(filePathName)) throw new ArgumentException($"{filePathName} is not a valid file path.");
using var streamReader = File.OpenText(filePathName);
string currentLine;
var strings = new List<string>();
while ((currentLine = await streamReader.ReadLineAsync().ConfigureAwait(false)) != null)
{
var lineAsArray = currentLine.Split(new string[] { ":" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
// Simple Data Validation
if (lineAsArray.Length == 4)
{
strings.Add($"{lineAsArray[0]}:{lineAsArray[1]}");
strings.Add($"{lineAsArray[2]}:{lineAsArray[3]}");
}
}
return strings;
}
The meat of the code is really simple, open the file for reading!
using var streamReader = File.OpenText(filePathName);
and then loop through that file...
while ((currentLine = await streamReader.ReadLineAsync()) != null)
{
var lineAsArray = currentLine.Split(new string[] { ":" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
// Simple Data Validation
if (lineAsArray.Length == 4)
{
// Do whatever you need to do with the first bits of information.
// In this case, we add them all to a list for return.
strings.Add($"{lineAsArray[0]}:{lineAsArray[1]}");
strings.Add($"{lineAsArray[2]}:{lineAsArray[3]}");
}
}
What this demonstrates is that, for every line that I read out that is not null, break into four parts (based on the ":") character removing all empty entries.
We then use a C# feature called String Interpolation ($"") to put the first two back together with ":" as a string. Then the second two. Or whatever you need to do with reading each part of the line.
That's really all there is to it! Hope it helps.
Addendum: If you really need to read parts of file, please use a StreamReader.Read and Peek()
using (var sr = new StreamReader(path))
{
while (sr.Peek() >= 0)
{
Console.Write((char)sr.Read());
}
}
Reading each character

Some bare bones code:
string fileName = #"c:\some folder\path\file.txt";
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(fileName))
{
while (!sr.EndOfStream)
{
String[] values = sr.ReadLine().Split(":".ToCharArray());
if (values.Length >= 2)
{
// ... do something with values[0] and values[1] ...
Console.WriteLine(values[0] + ", " + values[1]);
}
}
}

Finding multiple semi predictable patterns in a string

Alright, so I'm writing an application that needs to be able to extract a VAT-Number from an invoice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAT_identification_number)
The biggest challenge to overcome here is that as apparent from the wikipedia article I have linked to, each country uses its own format for these VAT-numbers (The Netherlands uses a 14 character number while Germany uses a 11 character number).
In order to extract these numbers, I throw every line from the invoice into an array of strings, and for each string I test if it has a length that is equal to one of the VAT formats, and if that checks out, I check if said string also contains a country code ("NL", "DE", etc).
string[] ProcessedFile = Reader.ProcessFile(Input);
foreach(string S in ProcessedFile)
{
RtBEditor.AppendText(S + "\n");
}
foreach(string X in ProcessedFile)
{
string S = X.Replace(" ", string.Empty);
if (S.Length == 7)
{
if (S.Contains("GBGD"))
{
MessageBox.Show("Land = Groot Britanie (Regering)");
}
}
/*
repeat for all other lenghts and country codes.
*/
The problem with this code is that 1st:
if there is a string that happens to have the same length as one of the VAT-formats, and it has a country code embedded in it, the code will incorrectly think that it has found the VAT-number.
2nd:
In some cases, the VAT-number will be included like "VAT-number: [VAT-number]". In this case, the text that precedes the actual number will be added to its length, making the program unable to detect the actual VAT-Number.
The best way to fix this is in my assumption to somehow isolate the VAT-Number from the strings all together, but I have yet to find a way how to actually do this.
Does anyone by any chance know any potential solution?
Many thanks in advance!
EDIT:
Added a dummy invoice to clarify what kind of data is contained within the invoices.

As someone in the comments had pointed out, the best way to fix this is by using Regex. After trying around a bit I came to the following solution:
public Regex FilterNormaal = new Regex(#"[A-Z]{2}(\d)+B?\d*");
private void BtnUitlezen_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
RtBEditor.Clear();
/*
Temp dummy vatcodes for initial testing.
*/
Form1.Dummy1.VAT = "NL855291886B01";
Form1.Dummy2.VAT = "DE483270846";
Form1.Dummy3.VAT = "SE482167803501";
OCR Reader = new OCR();
/*
Grab and process image
*/
if(openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
try
{
Input = new Bitmap(openFileDialog1.FileName);
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("Please open an image file.");
}
}
string[] ProcessedFile = Reader.ProcessFile(Input);
foreach(string S in ProcessedFile)
{
string X = S.Replace(" ", string.Empty);
RtBEditor.AppendText(X + "\n");
}
foreach (Match M in FilterNormaal.Matches(RtBEditor.Text))
{
MessageBox.Show(M.Value);
}
}
At first, I attempted to iterate through my array of strings to find a match, but for reasons unknown, this did not yield any results. When applying the regex to the entire textbox, it did output the results I needed.

Alternative to File.AppendAllText for newline

I am trying to read characters from a file and then append them in another file after removing the comments (which are followed by semicolon).
sample data from parent file:
Name- Harly Brown ;Name is Harley Brown
Age- 20 ;Age is 20 years
Desired result:
Name- Harley Brown
Age- 20
I am trying the following code-
StreamReader infile = new StreamReader(floc + "G" + line + ".NC0");
while (infile.Peek() != -1)
{
letter = Convert.ToChar(infile.Read());
if (letter == ';')
{
infile.ReadLine();
}
else
{
System.IO.File.AppendAllText(path, Convert.ToString(letter));
}
}
But the output i am getting is-
Name- Harley Brown Age-20
Its because AppendAllText is not working for the newline. Is there any alternative?

Sure, why not use File.AppendAllLines. See documentation here.
Appends lines to a file, and then closes the file. If the specified file does not exist, this method creates a file, writes the specified lines to the file, and then closes the file.
It takes in any IEnumerable<string> and adds every line to the specified file. So it always adds the line on a new line.
Small example:
const string originalFile = #"D:\Temp\file.txt";
const string newFile = #"D:\Temp\newFile.txt";
// Retrieve all lines from the file.
string[] linesFromFile = File.ReadAllLines(originalFile);
List<string> linesToAppend = new List<string>();
foreach (string line in linesFromFile)
{
// 1. Split the line at the semicolon.
// 2. Take the first index, because the first part is your required result.
// 3. Trim the trailing and leading spaces.
string appendAbleLine = line.Split(';').FirstOrDefault().Trim();
// Add the line to the list of lines to append.
linesToAppend.Add(appendAbleLine);
}
// Append all lines to the file.
File.AppendAllLines(newFile, linesToAppend);
Output:
Name- Harley Brown
Age- 20
You could even change the foreach-loop into a LINQ-expression, if you prefer LINQ:
List<string> linesToAppend = linesFromFile.Select(line => line.Split(';').FirstOrDefault().Trim()).ToList();

Why use char by char comparison when .NET Framework is full of useful string manipulation functions?
Also, don't use a file write function multiple times when you can use it only one time, it's time and resources consuming!
StreamReader stream = new StreamReader("file1.txt");
string str = "";
while ((string line = infile.ReadLine()) != null) { // Get every line of the file.
line = line.Split(';')[0].Trim(); // Remove comment (right part of ;) and useless white characters.
str += line + "\n"; // Add it to our final file contents.
}
File.WriteAllText("file2.txt", str); // Write it to the new file.

You could do this with LINQ, System.File.ReadLines(string), and System.File.WriteAllLines(string, IEnumerable<string>). You could also use System.File.AppendAllLines(string, IEnumerable<string>) in a find-and-replace fashion if that was, in fact, the functionality you were going for. The difference, as the names suggest, is whether it writes everything out as a new file or if it just appends to an existing one.
System.IO.File.WriteAllLines(newPath, System.IO.File.ReadLines(oldPath).Select(c =>
{
int semicolon = c.IndexOf(';');
if (semicolon > -1)
return c.Remove(semicolon);
else
return c;
}));
In case you aren't super familiar with LINQ syntax, the idea here is to loop through each line in the file, and if it contains a semicolon (that is, IndexOf returns something that is over -1) we cut that off, and otherwise, we just return the string. Then we write all of those to the file. The StreamReader equivalent to this would be:
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(oldPath))
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(newPath))
{
string line;
while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
{
int semicolon = line.IndexOf(';');
if (semicolon > -1)
line = c.Remove(semicolon);
writer.WriteLine(line);
}
}
Although, of course, this would feed an extra empty line at the end and the LINQ version wouldn't (as far as I know, it occurs to me that I'm not one hundred percent sure on that, but if someone reading this does know I would appreciate a comment).
Another important thing to note, just looking at your original file, you might want to add in some Trim calls, since it looks like you can have spaces before your semicolons, and I don't imagine you want those copied through.

How to properly split a CSV using C# split() function?

Suppose I have this CSV file :
NAME,ADDRESS,DATE
"Eko S. Wibowo", "Tamanan, Banguntapan, Bantul, DIY", "6/27/1979"
I would like like to store each token that enclosed using a double quotes to be in an array, is there a safe to do this instead of using the String split() function? Currently I load up the file in a RichTextBox, and then using its Lines[] property, I do a loop for each Lines[] element and doing this :
string[] line = s.Split(',');
s is a reference to RichTextBox.Lines[].
And as you can clearly see, the comma inside a token can easily messed up split() function. So, instead of ended with three token as I want it, I ended with 6 tokens
Any help will be appreciated!

You could use regex too:
string input = "\"Eko S. Wibowo\", \"Tamanan, Banguntapan, Bantul, DIY\", \"6/27/1979\"";
string pattern = #"""\s*,\s*""";
// input.Substring(1, input.Length - 2) removes the first and last " from the string
string[] tokens = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Split(
input.Substring(1, input.Length - 2), pattern);
This will give you:
Eko S. Wibowo
Tamanan, Banguntapan, Bantul, DIY
6/27/1979

I've done this with my own method. It simply counts the amout of " and ' characters.
Improve this to your needs.
public List<string> SplitCsvLine(string s) {
int i;
int a = 0;
int count = 0;
List<string> str = new List<string>();
for (i = 0; i < s.Length; i++) {
switch (s[i]) {
case ',':
if ((count & 1) == 0) {
str.Add(s.Substring(a, i - a));
a = i + 1;
}
break;
case '"':
case '\'': count++; break;
}
}
str.Add(s.Substring(a));
return str;
}

It's not an exact answer to your question, but why don't you use already written library to manipulate CSV file, good example would be LinqToCsv. CSV could be delimited with various punctuation signs. Moreover, there are gotchas, which are already addressed by library creators. Such as dealing with name row, dealing with different date formats and mapping rows to C# objects.

You can replace "," with ; then split by ;
var values= s.Replace("\",\"",";").Split(';');

If your CSV line is tightly packed it's easiest to use the end and tail removal mentioned earlier and then a simple split on a joining string
string[] tokens = input.Substring(1, input.Length - 2).Split("\",\"");
This will only work if ALL fields are double-quoted even if they don't (officially) need to be. It will be faster than RegEx but with given conditions as to its use.
Really useful if your data looks like
"Name","1","12/03/2018","Add1,Add2,Add3","other stuff"

Five years old but there is always somebody new who wants to split a CSV.
If your data is simple and predictable (i.e. never has any special characters like commas, quotes and newlines) then you can do it with split() or regex.
But to support all the nuances of the CSV format properly without code soup you should really use a library where all the magic has already been figured out. Don't re-invent the wheel (unless you are doing it for fun of course).
CsvHelper is simple enough to use:
https://joshclose.github.io/CsvHelper/2.x/
using (var parser = new CsvParser(textReader)
{
while(true)
{
string[] line = parser.Read();
if (line != null)
{
// do something
}
else
{
break;
}
}
}
More discussion / same question:
Dealing with commas in a CSV file