What's the best way to read a .CSV file in C#

[Brian Kitt]

I have a .CSV file that I need to read, reformat, and write back out as a TAB
delimited file. I can't use a slick utility such as DTS, because I have a
lot of tweaking I need to do on the data before it can be output. The data
is true .CSV fasion, in other words, a record may look as follows:
1.23,"this is a ""special"" field",2,"brian 's test","one,two, three",45.22334 4
There are embeded quotes, apostrophes, and commas in the data. This makes
something like Split() out of the question. Is there a method to read a .CSV
and just refer to the columns as an array?

[Markus Stoeger]

Brian Kitt wrote:

I have a .CSV file that I need to read, reformat, and write back out as a TAB
delimited file. I can't use a slick utility such as DTS, because I have a
lot of tweaking I need to do on the data before it can be output. The data
is true .CSV fasion, in other words, a record may look as follows:
1.23,"this is a ""special"" field",2,"brian 's test","one,two, three",45.22334 4
There are embeded quotes, apostrophes, and commas in the data. This makes
something like Split() out of the question. Is there a method to read a .CSV
and just refer to the columns as an array?

afaik there is no such thing built into the framework.

codeproject.com always is a good start. Maybe this will work for you?
http://www.codeproject.com/cs/database/CsvReader.asp

Max

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

That's not necessarily true.

You can use the JET 4.0 OLE DB provider with the classes in the
System.Data.Ole Db namespace to access the comma delimited text file (using a
DataSet/DataTable).

Or you could use Microsoft Text Driver for ODBC with the classes in the
System.Data.Odb c namespace to access the file using ODBC drivers.

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard. caspershouse.co m

"Markus Stoeger" <sp******@gmx.a t> wrote in message
news:en******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl...

Brian Kitt wrote:

I have a .CSV file that I need to read, reformat, and write back out as a
TAB delimited file. I can't use a slick utility such as DTS, because I
have a lot of tweaking I need to do on the data before it can be output.
The data is true .CSV fasion, in other words, a record may look as
follows:
1.23,"this is a ""special"" field",2,"brian 's
test","one,two, three",45.22334 4
There are embeded quotes, apostrophes, and commas in the data. This
makes something like Split() out of the question. Is there a method to
read a .CSV and just refer to the columns as an array?

afaik there is no such thing built into the framework.

codeproject.com always is a good start. Maybe this will work for you?
http://www.codeproject.com/cs/database/CsvReader.asp

Max

[Ignacio Machin \( .NET/ C# MVP \)]

Hi,
In addition you could use the provider from opennetcf (www.opennetcf.org )
It's good fast and you have the source code so you can customize it.

cheers,

--
Ignacio Machin,
ignacio.machin AT dot.state.fl.us
Florida Department Of Transportation

"Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]" <mv*@spam.guard .caspershouse.c om> wrote in
message news:O4******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl...

That's not necessarily true.

You can use the JET 4.0 OLE DB provider with the classes in the
System.Data.Ole Db namespace to access the comma delimited text file (using
a DataSet/DataTable).

Or you could use Microsoft Text Driver for ODBC with the classes in the
System.Data.Odb c namespace to access the file using ODBC drivers.

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard. caspershouse.co m

"Markus Stoeger" <sp******@gmx.a t> wrote in message
news:en******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl...

Brian Kitt wrote:

I have a .CSV file that I need to read, reformat, and write back out as
a TAB delimited file. I can't use a slick utility such as DTS, because
I have a lot of tweaking I need to do on the data before it can be
output. The data is true .CSV fasion, in other words, a record may look
as follows:
1.23,"this is a ""special"" field",2,"brian 's
test","one,two, three",45.22334 4
There are embeded quotes, apostrophes, and commas in the data. This
makes something like Split() out of the question. Is there a method to
read a .CSV and just refer to the columns as an array?

afaik there is no such thing built into the framework.

codeproject.com always is a good start. Maybe this will work for you?
http://www.codeproject.com/cs/database/CsvReader.asp

Max