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C# reading multiple lines into a single variable

I have looked but failed to find a tutorial that would address my question. Perhaps I didn't word my searches correctly. In any event, I am here.
I have taken over a handyman company and he had about 150 customers. He had a program that he bought that produces records for his customers. I have the records, but he wouldn't sell me the program as it is commercial and he's afraid of going to prison for selling something like that... whatever... They are written in a text file. The format appears to be:
string name
string last_job_description
int job_codes
string job_address
string comments
The text file looks like this
*Henderson*
*Cleaned gutters, fed the lawn, added mulch to the front flower beds,
cut the back yard, edged the side walk, pressure washed the driveway*
*04 34 32 1 18 99 32 22 43 72 11 18*
*123 Anywhere ave*
*Ms.always pays cash no tip. Mr. gives you a check but always tips*
Alright.. My question is in C# I want to write a program to edit these records, add new customers and delete some I may lose, moves, or dies... But the 2nd entry is broken over two lines, sometimes 3 and 4 lines. They all start and end with *. So, how do I read the 2 to 4 lines and get them into the last_job_description string variable? I can write the class, I can read lines, I can trim away the asterisks. I can find nothing on reading multiple lines into a single variable.

Let's do it right!
First define the customer model:
public class Customer
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public string LastJobDescription { get; set; }
public List<int> JobCodes { get; set; }
public string JobAddress { get; set; }
public string Comments { get; set; }
}
Then, we need a collection of customers:
var customers = new List<Customer>();
Fill the collection with data from the file:
string text = File.ReadAllText("customers.txt");
string pattern = #"(?<= ^ \*) .+? (?= \* \r? $)";
var options = RegexOptions.IgnorePatternWhitespace | RegexOptions.Compiled
| RegexOptions.Singleline | RegexOptions.Multiline;
var matches = Regex.Matches(text, pattern, options);
for (int i = 0; i < matches.Count; i += 5)
{
var customer = new Customer
{
Name = matches[i].Value,
LastJobDescription = matches[i + 1].Value,
JobCodes = matches[i + 2].Value.Split().Select(s => int.Parse(s)).ToList(),
JobAddress = matches[i + 3].Value,
Comments = matches[i + 4].Value
};
customers.Add(customer);
}
I'm using a regular expression that allows to have the * character in the middle of the lines.
Now we can comfortably work with this collection.
Examples of usage.
Remove the first customer:
customers.RemoveAt(0);
Add a comment to the latest client:
customers.Last().Comments += " Very generous.";
Find the first record for a client by the name of Henderson and add the code of the job performed:
customers.Find(c => c.Name == "Henderson").JobCodes.Add(42);
Add new customer:
var customer = new Customer
{
Name = "Chuck Norris",
LastJobDescription= "Saved the world.",
JobCodes = new List<int>() { 1 },
JobAddress = "UN",
Comments = "Nice guy!"
};
customers.Add(customer);
And so on.
To save data to a file, use the following:
var sb = new StringBuilder();
foreach (var customer in customers)
{
sb.Append('*').Append(customer.Name).Append('*').AppendLine();
sb.Append('*').Append(customer.LastJobDescription).Append('*').AppendLine();
sb.Append('*').Append(string.Join(" ", customer.JobCodes)).Append('*').AppendLine();
sb.Append('*').Append(customer.JobAddress).Append('*').AppendLine();
sb.Append('*').Append(customer.Comments).Append('*').AppendLine();
}
File.WriteAllText("customers.txt", sb.ToString());
You probably need a graphical user interface. If so, I suggest you to ask a new question where you specify what you use: WinForms, WPF, Web-application or something else.

if you want to read all the lines in a file into a single variable then you need to do this
var txt = File.ReadAllText(.. your file location here ..);
or you can do
var lines = File.ReadAllLines(.. your file location here); and then you can iterate through each line and remove the blanks of leave as it is.
But based on your question the first line is what you're really after

when you should read last_job_description read second line. if it starts with * it means that this line is job_codes otherwise append it to pervous read line. do this fo every lines until you find job_codes.
using (var fileReader = new StreamReader("someFile"))
{
// read some pervous data here
var last_job_description = fileReader.ReadLine();
var nextLine = fileReader.ReadLine();
while (nextLine.StartsWith("*") == false)
{
last_job_description += nextLine;
nextLine = fileReader.ReadLine();
}
//you have job_codes in nextline, so parse it now and read next data
}
or you may even use the fact that each set of data starts and ENDS!!! with * so you may create function that reads each "set" and returns it as singleline string, no matter how much lines it really was. let's assume that reader variable you pass to this function is the same StreamReader as in upper code
function string readSingleValue(StreamReader fileReader){
var result = "";
do
{
result += fileReader.ReadLine().Trim();
} while (result.EndsWith("*") == false);
return result;
}

I think your problem is little complex. What i am trying to say is it doesn't mention to a specific problem. It is contained at least 3 different programming aspects that you need to know or learn to reach your goal. The steps that you must take are described below.
unfortunately you need to consider your current file as huge string type.
Then you are able to process this string and separate different parts.
Next move is defining a neat, reliable and robust XML file which can hold your data.
Fill your xml with your manipulated string.
If you have a xml file you can simply update it.

There is not built-in method that will parse your file exactly like you want, so you have to get your hands dirty.
Here's an example of a working code for your specific case. I assumed you wanted your job_codes in an array since they're multiple integers separated by spaces.
Each time we encounter a line starting with '*', we increase a counter that'll tell us to work with the next of your properties (name, last job description, etc...).
Each line is appended to the current property.
And obviously, we remove the stars from the beginning and ending of every line.
string name = String.Empty;
string last_job_description = String.Empty;
int[] job_codes = null;
string job_address = String.Empty;
string comments = String.Empty;
int numberOfPropertiesRead = 0;
var lines = File.ReadAllLines("C:/yourfile.txt");
for (int i = 0; i < lines.Count(); i++)
{
var line = lines[i];
bool newProp = line.StartsWith("*");
bool endOfProp = line.EndsWith("*");
if (newProp)
{
numberOfPropertiesRead++;
line = line.Substring(1);
}
if (endOfProp)
line = line.Substring(0, line.Length - 1);
switch (numberOfPropertiesRead)
{
case 1: name += line; break;
case 2: last_job_description += line; break;
case 3:
job_codes = line.Split(' ').Select(el => Int32.Parse(el)).ToArray();
break;
case 4: job_address += line; break;
case 5: comments += line; break;
default:
throw new ArgumentException("Wow, that's too many properties dude.");
}
}
Console.WriteLine("name: " + name);
Console.WriteLine("last_job_description: " + last_job_description);
foreach (int job_code in job_codes)
Console.Write(job_code + " ");
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("job_address: " + job_address);
Console.WriteLine("comments: " + comments);
Console.ReadLine();

Eead text file with fixed columns in C#

is there any way to read text files with fixed columns in C # without using regex and substring?
I want to read a file with fixed columns and transfer the column to an excel file (.xlsx)
example 1
POPULACAO
MUNICIPIO UF CENSO 2010
AC 78.507
AC 15.100
Rio Branco AC 336.038
Sena Madureira AC 38.029
example 2
POPULACAO
MUNICIPIO UF CENSO 2010
AC 78.507
Epitaciolândia AC 15.100
Rio Branco AC 336.038
Sena Madureira AC 38.029
remembering that I have a case as in the second example where a column is blank, I can get the columns and the values ​​using regex and / or substring, but if it appears as a file in Example 2, with the regex line of the file is ignored, so does substring.

Assuming you mean "fixed columns" extremely literally, and every single non-terminal column is exactly the same width, each column is separated by exactly one space, yes, you can get away with using neither regex or substring. If that's the case - and bear in mind that's also suggesting that every single person in the database has a name that's exactly four letters long - then you can just read the file in by lines. Id would be line[0].ToString(), name would be new string(new char[] { line[2], line[3], line[4], line[5]), etc.
Or, for any given value:
var str = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = firstIndex; i < lastIndex; i++)
{
str.Append(line[i]);
}
But this is basically just performing the exact function of Substring. Substring isn't your problem - handling empty values in the first (city) column is. So, for any given line, you need to check whether the line is empty:
foreach (line in yourLines)
{
if (line.Substring(cityStartIndex, cityEndIndex).IsNullOrWhitespace) == "")
{
continue;
}
}
Alternately, if you're sure the city name will always be at the very first index of the line:
foreach (line in yourLines)
{
if (line[0] == ' ') { continue; }
}
And if the value you got from the city cell was valid, you'd store that value and continue on to using Substring with the indices of the rest of the values in the row.

If for whatever reason you don't want to use a regular expression or Substring(), you have a couple of other options:
String.Split, e.g. var columns = line.Split(' ');
String.Chars, using the known widths of each column to build your output;

Why not just use string.Split()?
Something like:
using (StreamReader stream = new StreamReader(file)) {
while (!stream.EndOfStream) {
string line = stream.ReadLine();
if (string.IsNullOrWhitespace(line))
continue;
string[] fields = line.Split((char[])null, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
int ID = -1, age = -1;
string name = null, training = null;
ID = int.Parse(fields[0]);
if (fields.Length > 1)
name = fields[1];
if (fields.Length > 2)
age = int.Parse(fields[2]);
if (fields.Length > 3)
training = fields[3];
// do stuff
}
}
Only downside to this is that it will allow fields of arbitrary length. And spaces in fields will break the fields.
As for regular expressions being ignored in the last case, try something like:
Match m = Regex.Match(line, #"^(.{2}) (.{4}) (.{2})( +.+?)?$");

First - define a variable for each column in the file. Then go through the file line by line and assign each column to the correct variable. Substitute the correct start positions and lengths. This should be enough information to get you started parsing your file.
private string id;
private string name;
private string age;
private string training;
while((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
{
id = line.Substring(0, 3)
name = line.Substring(3, 10)
age = line.Substring(12, 2)
training = line.Substring(14, 10)
...
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(name))
{
// ignore this line if the name is blank
}
else
{
// do something useful
}
counter++;
}

Streamreader isn't returning the correct values from my text file, can't figure out how to properly read my text files C#

I'm running three counters, one to return the total amount of chars, one to return the number of '|' chars in my .txt file (total). And one to read how many separate lines are in my text file. I'm assuming my counters are wrong, I'm not sure. In my text file there are some extra '|' chars, but that is a bug I need to fix later...
The Message Boxes show
"Lines = 8"
"Entries = 8"
"Total Chars = 0"
Not sure if it helps but the .txt file is compiled using a streamwriter, and I have a datagridview saved to a string to create the output. Everything seems okay with those functions.
Here is a copy of the text file I'm reading
Matthew|Walker|MXW320|114282353|True|True|True
Audrey|Walker|AXW420|114282354|True|True|True
John|Doe|JXD020|111222333|True|True|False
||||||
And here is the code.
private void btnLoadList_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var loadDialog = new OpenFileDialog
{
InitialDirectory = Convert.ToString(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments),
Filter = "Text (*.txt)|*.txt",
FilterIndex = 1
};
if (loadDialog.ShowDialog() != DialogResult.OK) return;
using (new StreamReader(loadDialog.FileName))
{
var lines = File.ReadAllLines(loadDialog.FileName);//Array of all the lines in the text file
foreach (var assocStringer in lines)//For each assocStringer in lines (Runs 1 cycle for each line in the text file loaded)
{
var entries = assocStringer.Split('|'); // split the line into pieces (e.g. an array of "Matthew", "Walker", etc.)
var obj = (Associate) _bindingSource.AddNew();
if (obj == null) continue;
obj.FirstName = entries[0];
obj.LastName = entries[1];
obj.AssocId = entries[2];
obj.AssocRfid = entries[3];
obj.CanDoDiverts = entries[4];
obj.CanDoMhe = entries[5];
obj.CanDoLoading = entries[6];
}
}
}
Hope you guys find the bug(s) here. Sorry if the formatting is sloppy I'm self-taught, no classes. Any extra advice is welcomed, be as honest and harsh as need be, no feelings will be hurt.
In summary
Why is this program not reading the correct values from the text file I'm using?

Not totally sure I get exactly what you're trying to do, so correct me if I'm off, but if you're just trying to get the line count, pipe (|) count and character count for the file the following should get you that.
var lines = File.ReadAllLines(load_dialog.FileName);
int lineCount = lines.Count();
int totalChars = 0;
int totalPipes = 0; // number of "|" chars
foreach (var s in lines)
{
var entries = s.Split('|'); // split the line into pieces (e.g. an array of "Matthew", "Walker", etc.)
totalChars += s.Length; // add the number of chars on this line to the total
totalPipes = totalPipes + entries.Count() - 1; // there is always one more entry than pipes
}
All the Split() is doing is breaking the full line into an array of the individual fields in the string. Since you only seem to care about the number of pipes and not the fields, I'm not doing much with it other than determining the number of pipes by taking the number of fields and subtracting one (since you don't have a trailing pipe on each line).

Parse Text File Into Dictionary

I have a text file that has several hundred configuration values. The general format of the configuration data is "Label:Value". Using C# .net, I would like to read these configurations, and use the Values in other portions of the code. My first thought is that I would use a string search to look for the Labels then parse out the values following the labels and add them to a dictionary, but this seems rather tedious considering the number of labels/values that I would have to search for. I am interested to hear some thoughts on a possible architecture to perform this task. I have included a small section of a sample text file that contains some of the labels and values (below). A couple of notes: The Values are not always numeric (as seen in the AUX Serial Number); For whatever reason, the text files were formatted using spaces (\s) rather than tabs (\t). Thanks in advance for any time you spend thinking about this.
Sample Text:
AUX Serial Number: 445P000023 AUX Hardware Rev: 1
Barometric Pressure Slope: -1.452153E-02
Barometric Pressure Intercept: 9.524336E+02

This is a nice little brain tickler. I think this code might be able to point you in the right direction. Keep in mind, this fills a Dictionary<string, string>, so there are no conversions of values into ints or the like. Also, please excuse the mess (and the poor naming conventions). It was a quick write-up based on my train of thought.
Dictionary<string, string> allTheThings = new Dictionary<string, string>();
public void ReadIt()
{
// Open the file into a streamreader
using (System.IO.StreamReader sr = new System.IO.StreamReader("text_path_here.txt"))
{
while (!sr.EndOfStream) // Keep reading until we get to the end
{
string splitMe = sr.ReadLine();
string[] bananaSplits = splitMe.Split(new char[] { ':' }); //Split at the colons
if (bananaSplits.Length < 2) // If we get less than 2 results, discard them
continue;
else if (bananaSplits.Length == 2) // Easy part. If there are 2 results, add them to the dictionary
allTheThings.Add(bananaSplits[0].Trim(), bananaSplits[1].Trim());
else if (bananaSplits.Length > 2)
SplitItGood(splitMe, allTheThings); // Hard part. If there are more than 2 results, use the method below.
}
}
}
public void SplitItGood(string stringInput, Dictionary<string, string> dictInput)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
List<string> fish = new List<string>(); // This list will hold the keys and values as we find them
bool hasFirstValue = false;
foreach (char c in stringInput) // Iterate through each character in the input
{
if (c != ':') // Keep building the string until we reach a colon
sb.Append(c);
else if (c == ':' && !hasFirstValue)
{
fish.Add(sb.ToString().Trim());
sb.Clear();
hasFirstValue = true;
}
else if (c == ':' && hasFirstValue)
{
// Below, the StringBuilder currently has something like this:
// " 235235 Some Text Here"
// We trim the leading whitespace, then split at the first sign of a double space
string[] bananaSplit = sb.ToString()
.Trim()
.Split(new string[] { " " },
StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
// Add both results to the list
fish.Add(bananaSplit[0].Trim());
fish.Add(bananaSplit[1].Trim());
sb.Clear();
}
}
fish.Add(sb.ToString().Trim()); // Add the last result to the list
for (int i = 0; i < fish.Count; i += 2)
{
// This for loop assumes that the amount of keys and values added together
// is an even number. If it comes out odd, then one of the lines on the input
// text file wasn't parsed correctly or wasn't generated correctly.
dictInput.Add(fish[i], fish[i + 1]);
}
}

So the only general approach that I can think of, given the format that you're limited to, is to first find the first colon on the line and take everything before it as the label. Skip all whilespace characters until you get to the first non-whitespace character. Take all non-whitespace characters as the value of the label. If there is a colon after the end of that value take everything after the end of the previous value to the colon as the next value and repeat. You'll also probably need to trim whitespace around the labels.
You might be able to capture that meaning with a regex, but it wouldn't likely be a pretty one if you could; I'd avoid it for something this complex unless you're entire development team is very proficient with them.

I would try something like this:
While string contains triple space, replace it with double space.
Replace all ": " and ": " (: with double space) with ":".
Replace all " " (double space) with '\n' (new line).
If line don't contain ':' than skip the line. Else, use string.Split(':'). This way you receive arrays of 2 strings (key and value). Some of them may contain empty characters at the beginning or at the end.
Use string.Trim() to get rid of those empty characters.
Add received key and value to Dictionary.
I am not sure if it solves all your cases but it's a general clue how I would try to do it.
If it works you could think about performance (use StringBuilder instead of string wherever it is possible etc.).

This is probably the dirtiest function I´ve ever written, but it works.
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader("c:/yourFile.txt");
Dictionary<string, string> yourDic = new Dictionary<string, string>();
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader("c:/yourFile.txt");
Dictionary<string, string> yourDic = new Dictionary<string, string>();
while (reader.Peek() >= 0)
{
string line = reader.ReadLine();
string[] data = line.Split(':');
if (line != String.Empty)
{
for (int i = 0; i < data.Length - 1; i++)
{
if (i != 0)
{
bool isPair;
if (i % 2 == 0)
{
isPair = true;
}
else
{
isPair = false;
}
if (isPair)
{
string keyOdd = data[i].Trim();
try { keyOdd = keyOdd.Substring(keyOdd.IndexOf(' ')).TrimStart(); }
catch { }
string valueOdd = data[i + 1].TrimStart();
try { valueOdd = valueOdd.Remove(valueOdd.IndexOf(' ')); } catch{}
yourDic.Add(keyOdd, valueOdd);
}
else
{
string keyPair = data[i].TrimStart();
keyPair = keyPair.Substring(keyPair.IndexOf(' ')).Trim();
string valuePair = data[i + 1].TrimStart();
try { valuePair = valuePair.Remove(valuePair.IndexOf(' ')); } catch { }
yourDic.Add(keyPair, valuePair);
}
}
else
{
string key = data[i].Trim();
string value = data[i + 1].TrimStart();
try { value = value.Remove(value.IndexOf(' ')); } catch{}
yourDic.Add(key, value);
}
}
}
}
How does it works?, well splitting the line you can know what you can get in every position of the array, so I just play with the even and odd values.
You will understand me when you debug this function :D. It fills the Dictionary that you need.

I have another idea. Does values contain spaces? If not you could do like this:
Ignore white spaces until you read some other char (first char of key).
Read string until ':' occures.
Trim key that you get.
Ignore white spaces until you read some other char (first char of value).
Read until you get empty char.
Trim value that you get.
If it is the end than stop. Else, go back to step 1.
Good luck.

Maybe something like this would work, be careful with the ':' character
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader("c:/yourFile.txt");
Dictionary<string, string> yourDic = new Dictionary<string, string>();
while (reader.Peek() >= 0)
{
string line = reader.ReadLine();
yourDic.Add(line.Split(':')[0], line.Split(':')[1]);
}
Anyway, I recommend to organize that file in some way that you´ll always know in what format it comes.

How to check if the last column of line in csv file is "True" in a buffered reader

I have a CSV file and I am reading data byte by byte by using buffered stream. I want to ignore reading the line if the last column = "True". How do I achieve it?
So far I have got:
BufferedStream stream = new BufferedStream(csvFile, 1000);
int byteIn = stream.ReadByte();
while (byteIn != -1 && (char)byteIn != '\n' && (char)byteIn != '\r')
byteIn = stream.ReadByte();
I want to ignore reading the line if the last column of the line is "True"

Firstly, I wouldn't approach any file IO byte-by-byte without an absolute need for it. Secondly, reading lines from a text file in .Net is a really cheap operation.
Here is some naive starter code, which ignores the possibility of string CSV values:
List<string> matchingLines = new List<string>();
using (var reader = new StreamReader("data.csv"))
{
string rawline;
while (null != (rawline = reader.ReadLine()))
{
if (rawline.TrimEnd().Split(',').Last() == "True") continue;
matchingLines.Add(rawline);
}
}
In reality, it would be advised to parse each CSV line into a strongly typed object and then filter on that collection using LINQ. However, that can be a separate answer for a separate question.

I would read/import the entire CSV file into a DataTable object and then do a Select on the datatable to include rows where last column not equal to true.

Here is a solution using a StreamReader, rather than a BufferedStream:
public string RemoveTrueRows( string csvFile )
{
var sr = new StreamReader( csvFile );
var line = string.Empty;
var contentsWithoutTrueRows = string.Empty;
while ( ( line = sr.ReadLine() ) != null )
{
var columns = line.Split( ',' );
if ( columns[ columns.Length - 1 ] == "True" )
{
contentsWithoutTrueRows += line;
}
}
sr.Close();
return contentsWithoutTrueRows;
}

In addition to jkirkwood's answer, you could also read each line and conditionally add a class or struct to a list of objects.
Some quick, semi-pseudocode:
List<MyObject> ObjectList = new List<MyObject>();
struct MyObject
{
int Property1;
string Property2;
bool Property3;
}
while (buffer = StreamReader.ReadLine())
{
string[] LineData = buffer.Split(',');
if (LineData[LineData.Length - 1] == "true") continue;
MyObject CurrentObject = new MyObject();
CurrentObject.Property1 = Convert.ToInt32(LineData[1]);
CurrentObject.Property2 = LineData[2];
CurrentObject.Property3 = Convert.ToBoolean(LineData[LineData.Length - 1]);
ObjectList.Add(CurrentObject);
}
It really kind of depends on what you want to do with the data once you've read it.
Hopefully this example is a bit helpful.
EDIT
As noted in comments, please be aware this is just a quick example. Your CSV file may have qualifiers and other things which make the string split completely useless. The take-away concept is to read line data into some sort of temporary variable, evaluate it for the desired condition, then output it or add it to your collection as needed.
EDIT 2
If the line lengths vary, you'll need to grab the last field instead of the *n*th field, so I changed the boolean field grabber to show how you would always get the last field instead of, say, the 42nd one.