Easiest way to read from and write to files
There are a lot of different ways to read and write files (text files, not binary) in C#.
I just need something that is easy and uses the least amount of code, because I am going to be working with files a lot in my project. I only need something for string
since all I need is to read and write string
s.
Solution 1:
Use File.ReadAllText and File.WriteAllText.
MSDN example excerpt:
// Create a file to write to.
string createText = "Hello and Welcome" + Environment.NewLine;
File.WriteAllText(path, createText);
...
// Open the file to read from.
string readText = File.ReadAllText(path);
Solution 2:
In addition to File.ReadAllText
, File.ReadAllLines
, and File.WriteAllText
(and similar helpers from File
class) shown in another answer you can use StreamWriter
/StreamReader
classes.
Writing a text file:
using(StreamWriter writetext = new StreamWriter("write.txt"))
{
writetext.WriteLine("writing in text file");
}
Reading a text file:
using(StreamReader readtext = new StreamReader("readme.txt"))
{
string readText = readtext.ReadLine();
}
Notes:
- You can use
readtext.Dispose()
instead ofusing
, but it will not close file/reader/writer in case of exceptions - Be aware that relative path is relative to current working directory. You may want to use/construct absolute path.
- Missing
using
/Close
is very common reason of "why data is not written to file".
Solution 3:
FileStream fs = new FileStream(txtSourcePath.Text,FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
using(StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(fs))
{
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(Destination))
{
sw.Writeline("Your text");
}
}
Solution 4:
using (var file = File.Create("pricequote.txt"))
{
...........
}
using (var file = File.OpenRead("pricequote.txt"))
{
..........
}
Simple, easy and also disposes/cleans up the object once you are done with it.