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Empty file saved after stream object write line command [duplicate]

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 strings.

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);

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 of using, 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".

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");
}
}

The easiest way to read from a file and write to a file:
//Read from a file
string something = File.ReadAllText("C:\\Rfile.txt");
//Write to a file
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter("Wfile.txt"))
{
writer.WriteLine(something);
}

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.

#AlexeiLevenkov pointed me at another "easiest way" namely the extension method. It takes just a little coding, then provides the absolute easiest way to read/write, plus it offers the flexibility to create variations according to your personal needs. Here is a complete example:
This defines the extension method on the string type. Note that the only thing that really matters is the function argument with extra keyword this, that makes it refer to the object that the method is attached to. The class name does not matter; the class and method must be declared static.
using System.IO;//File, Directory, Path
namespace Lib
{
/// <summary>
/// Handy string methods
/// </summary>
public static class Strings
{
/// <summary>
/// Extension method to write the string Str to a file
/// </summary>
/// <param name="Str"></param>
/// <param name="Filename"></param>
public static void WriteToFile(this string Str, string Filename)
{
File.WriteAllText(Filename, Str);
return;
}
// of course you could add other useful string methods...
}//end class
}//end ns
This is how to use the string extension method, note that it refers automagically to the class Strings:
using Lib;//(extension) method(s) for string
namespace ConsoleApp_Sandbox
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
"Hello World!".WriteToFile(#"c:\temp\helloworld.txt");
return;
}
}//end class
}//end ns
I would never have found this myself, but it works great, so I wanted to share this. Have fun!

These are the best and most commonly used methods for writing to and reading from files:
using System.IO;
File.AppendAllText(sFilePathAndName, sTextToWrite);//add text to existing file
File.WriteAllText(sFilePathAndName, sTextToWrite);//will overwrite the text in the existing file. If the file doesn't exist, it will create it.
File.ReadAllText(sFilePathAndName);
The old way, which I was taught in college was to use stream reader/stream writer, but the File I/O methods are less clunky and require fewer lines of code. You can type in "File." in your IDE (make sure you include the System.IO import statement) and see all the methods available. Below are example methods for reading/writing strings to/from text files (.txt.) using a Windows Forms App.
Append text to an existing file:
private void AppendTextToExistingFile_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string sTextToAppend = txtMainUserInput.Text;
//first, check to make sure that the user entered something in the text box.
if (sTextToAppend == "" || sTextToAppend == null)
{MessageBox.Show("You did not enter any text. Please try again");}
else
{
string sFilePathAndName = getFileNameFromUser();// opens the file dailog; user selects a file (.txt filter) and the method returns a path\filename.txt as string.
if (sFilePathAndName == "" || sFilePathAndName == null)
{
//MessageBox.Show("You cancalled"); //DO NOTHING
}
else
{
sTextToAppend = ("\r\n" + sTextToAppend);//create a new line for the new text
File.AppendAllText(sFilePathAndName, sTextToAppend);
string sFileNameOnly = sFilePathAndName.Substring(sFilePathAndName.LastIndexOf('\\') + 1);
MessageBox.Show("Your new text has been appended to " + sFileNameOnly);
}//end nested if/else
}//end if/else
}//end method AppendTextToExistingFile_Click
Get file name from the user via file explorer/open file dialog (you will need this to select existing files).
private string getFileNameFromUser()//returns file path\name
{
string sFileNameAndPath = "";
OpenFileDialog fd = new OpenFileDialog();
fd.Title = "Select file";
fd.Filter = "TXT files|*.txt";
fd.InitialDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
if (fd.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
sFileNameAndPath = (fd.FileName.ToString());
}
return sFileNameAndPath;
}//end method getFileNameFromUser
Get text from an existing file:
private void btnGetTextFromExistingFile_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string sFileNameAndPath = getFileNameFromUser();
txtMainUserInput.Text = File.ReadAllText(sFileNameAndPath); //display the text
}

Or, if you are really about lines:
System.IO.File also contains a static method WriteAllLines, so you could do:
IList<string> myLines = new List<string>()
{
"line1",
"line2",
"line3",
};
File.WriteAllLines("./foo", myLines);

It's good when reading to use the OpenFileDialog control to browse to any file you want to read. Find the code below:
Don't forget to add the following using statement to read files: using System.IO;
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
textBox1.Text = File.ReadAllText(openFileDialog1.FileName);
}
}
To write files you can use the method File.WriteAllText.

class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
//To write in a txt file
File.WriteAllText("C:\\Users\\HP\\Desktop\\c#file.txt", "Hello and Welcome");
//To Read from a txt file & print on console
string copyTxt = File.ReadAllText("C:\\Users\\HP\\Desktop\\c#file.txt");
Console.Out.WriteLine("{0}",copyTxt);
}
}

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//Write a file
string text = "The text inside the file.";
System.IO.File.WriteAllText("file_name.txt", text);
//Read a file
string read = System.IO.File.ReadAllText("file_name.txt");
MessageBox.Show(read); //Display text in the file
}

Reading from file
string filePath = #"YOUR PATH";
List<string> lines = File.ReadAllLines(filePath).ToList();
Writing to file
List<string> lines = new List<string>();
string a = "Something to be written"
lines.Add(a);
File.WriteAllLines(filePath, lines);

Simply:
String inputText = "Hello World!";
File.WriteAllText("yourfile.ext",inputText); //writing
var outputText = File.ReadAllText("yourfile.ext"); //reading

You're looking for the File, StreamWriter, and StreamReader classes.

StreamWriter to project directory and sub directory?

I'm currently having an issue with my application and I'm starting to think it's just my logic. I can't figure it out even after browsing these forms and MSDN.
I'm trying to use StreamWriter to create a text document in my app directory and create sub folder containing that document. Currently it just keeps dumping the file in my apps exe directory.
string runTimeDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
string recipeDirectory = Path.Combine(runTimeDirectory, "Recipes");
if (!Directory.Exists(recipeDirectory))
{
//Recipes directory doesnt exist so create it
Directory.CreateDirectory(recipeDirectory);
}
// Write text to file
using (StreamWriter OutputFile = new StreamWriter(recipeDirectory + RecipeName + #".txt"))
{

Try this:
using (StreamWriter OutputFile = new StreamWriter(
Path.Combine(recipeDirectory, RecipeName + #".txt")))
The reason I think is that your recipeDirectory and RecipeName + #".txt" aren't separated by the backslash, so the file is written to the parent directory instead and named recipeDirectory + RecipeName + #".txt".
As an aside, I would also recommend you pass your RecipeName through a sanitizer function like this in case any name contains characters that can't be used in a file name:
internal static string GetSafeFileName(string fromString)
{
var invalidChars = Path.GetInvalidFileNameChars();
const char ReplacementChar = '_';
return new string(fromString.Select((inputChar) =>
invalidChars.Any((invalidChar) =>
(inputChar == invalidChar)) ? ReplacementChar : inputChar).ToArray());
}

How to write at the next line in the next opening of the csv file?

At first run, my program, writes to a csv file in the first line,
But, when I'm running my program at the second.. third.. time, it runs over the first line..
how can i correct it?
I would like to have a CSV file input of all the entering to my program.
The code is as follows:
private void WriteToCsvFile()
{
var us = users.ElementAt(0);
string names = "Number',";
string userAnswer = (us.userName + ",");
foreach (string ss in user)
{
string str = Path.GetFileName(ss);
names = names + str + ",";
}
foreach (string ans in us.answer)
{
userAnswer = userAnswer + ans + ",";
}
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("EntranceLog.csv"))
{
sw.WriteLine(names);
sw.WriteLine(userAnswer);
}
this.Close();
}

Add true parameter in the constructor:
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("EntranceLog.csv", true))
The second parameter named append controls whether an existing file shall be overwritten or appended. MSDN states:
true to append data to the file; false to overwrite the file. If the specified file does not exist, this parameter has no effect, and the constructor creates a new file.

Each time it is run, you are creating a new file with the same name is overwriting the older file. That is the default behavior of the specific constructor you are using.
You want to use this constructor instead and specify the append parameters as true:
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("EntranceLog.csv", true))
{
// write your file as normal
}

How can I split a big text file into smaller file?

I have a big file with some text, and I want to split it into smaller files.
In this example, What I do:
I open a text file let's say with 10 000 lines into it
I set a number of package=300 here, which means, that's the small file limit, once a small file has 300 lines into it, close it, open a new file for writing for example (package2).
Same, as step 2.
You already know
Here is the code from my function that should do that. The ideea (what I dont' know) is how to close, and open a new file once it has reached the 300 limit (in our case here).
Let me show you what I'm talking about:
int nr = 1;
package=textBox1.Text;//how many lines/file (small file)
string packnr = nr.ToString();
string filer=package+"Pack-"+packnr+"+_"+date2+".txt";//name of small file/s
int packtester = 0;
int package= 300;
StreamReader freader = new StreamReader("bigfile.txt");
StreamWriter pak = new StreamWriter(filer);
while ((line = freader.ReadLine()) != null)
{
if (packtester < package)
{
pak.WriteLine(line);//writing line to small file
packtester++;//increasing the lines of small file
}
else if (packtester == package)//in this example, checking if the lines
//written, got to 300
{
packtester = 0;
pak.Close();//closing the file
nr++;//nr++ -> just for file name to be Pack-2;
packnr = nr.ToString();
StreamWriter pak = new StreamWriter(package + "Pack-" + packnr + "+_" + date2 + ".txt");
}
}
I get this errors:
Cannot use local variable 'pak' before it is declared
A local variable named 'pak' cannot be declared in this scope because it would give a different meaning to 'pak', which is already used in a 'parent or current' scope to denote something else

Try this:
public void SplitFile()
{
int nr = 1;
int package = 300;
DateTime date2 = DateTime.Now;
int packtester = 0;
using (var freader = new StreamReader("bigfile.txt"))
{
StreamWriter pak = null;
try
{
pak = new StreamWriter(GetPackFilename(package, nr, date2), false);
string line;
while ((line = freader.ReadLine()) != null)
{
if (packtester < package)
{
pak.WriteLine(line); //writing line to small file
packtester++; //increasing the lines of small file
}
else
{
pak.Flush();
pak.Close(); //closing the file
packtester = 0;
nr++; //nr++ -> just for file name to be Pack-2;
pak = new StreamWriter(GetPackFilename(package, nr, date2), false);
}
}
}
finally
{
if(pak != null)
{
pak.Dispose();
}
}
}
}
private string GetPackFilename(int package, int nr, DateTime date2)
{
return string.Format("{0}Pack-{1}+_{2}.txt", package, nr, date2);
}

Logrotate can do this automatically for you. Years have been put into it and it's what people trust to handle their sometimes very large webserver logs.

Note that the code, as written, will not compile because you define the variable pak more than once. It should otherwise function, though it has some room for improvement.
When working with files, my suggestion and the general norm is to wrap your code in a using block, which is basically syntactic sugar built on top of a finally clause:
using (var stream = File.Open("C:\hi.txt"))
{
//write your code here. When this block is exited, stream will be disposed.
}
Is equivalent to:
try
{
var stream = File.Open(#"C:\hi.txt");
}
finally
{
stream.Dispose();
}
In addition, when working with files, always prefer opening file streams using very specific permissions and modes as opposed to using the more sparse constructors that assume some default options. For example:
var stream = new StreamWriter(File.Open(#"c:\hi.txt", FileMode.CreateNew, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.Read));
This will guarantee, for example, that files should not be overwritten -- instead, we assume that the file we want to open doesn't exist yet.
Oh, and instead of using the check you perform, I suggest using the EndOfStream property of the StreamReader object.

This code looks like it closes the stream and re-opens a new stream when you hit 300 lines. What exactly doesn't work in this code?
One thing you'll want to add is a final close (probably with a check so it doesn't try to close an already closed stream) in case you don't have an even multiple of 300 lines.
EDIT:
Due to your edit I see your problem. You don't need to redeclare pak in the last line of code, simply reinitialize it to another streamwriter.
(I don't remember if that is disposable but if it is you probably should do that before making a new one).
StreamWriter pak = new StreamWriter(package + "Pack-" + packnr + "+_" + date2 + ".txt");
becomes
pak = new StreamWriter(package + "Pack-" + packnr + "+_" + date2 + ".txt");

Reading of particular line of text file in WP7 based on some starting string and replacing (overwriting) it

I am able to do read/write/append operation on text file storing in isolated storage in WP7 application.
My scenario is that I am storing space seperated values in text file inside isolated storage.
So if I have to find for some particular line having some starting key then how to overwrite
value for that key without affecting the other line before and after it.
Example:
Key Value SomeOtherValue
*status read good
status1 unread bad
status2 null cantsay*
So if I have to change the whole second line based on some condition with key as same
status1 read good
How can I achieve this?

There are a number of ways you could do this, and the method you choose should be best suited to the size and complexity of the data file.
One option to get you started is to use the static string.Replace() method. This is crude, but if your file is only small then there is nothing wrong with it.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.AppendLine("*status read good");
sb.AppendLine("status1 unread bad");
sb.AppendLine("status2 null cantsay*");
string input = sb.ToString();
var startPos = input.IndexOf("status1");
var endPos = input.IndexOf(Environment.NewLine, startPos);
var modifiedInput = input.Replace(oneLine.Substring(startPos, endPos - startPos), "status1 read good");
Console.WriteLine(modifiedInput);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}

If you store this information in text files then there won't be a way around replacing whole files. The following code does exactly this and might even be what you are doing right now.
// replace a given line in a given text file with a given replacement line
private void ReplaceLine(string fileName, int lineNrToBeReplaced, string newLine)
{
using (IsolatedStorageFile isf = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
{
// the memory writer will hold the read and modified lines
using (StreamWriter memWriter = new StreamWriter(new MemoryStream()))
{
// this is for reading lines from the source file
using (StreamReader fileReader = new StreamReader(new IsolatedStorageFileStream(fileName, System.IO.FileMode.Open, isf)))
{
int lineCount = 0;
// iterate file and read lines
while (!fileReader.EndOfStream)
{
string line = fileReader.ReadLine();
// check if this is the line which should be replaced; check is done by line
// number but could also be based on content
if (lineCount++ != lineNrToBeReplaced)
{
// just copy line from file
memWriter.WriteLine(line);
}
else
{
// replace line from file
memWriter.WriteLine(newLine);
}
}
}
memWriter.Flush();
memWriter.BaseStream.Position = 0;
// re-create file and save all lines from memory to this file
using (IsolatedStorageFileStream fileStream = new IsolatedStorageFileStream(fileName, System.IO.FileMode.Create, isf))
{
memWriter.BaseStream.CopyTo(fileStream);
}
}
}
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ReplaceLine("test.txt", 1, "status1 read good");
}
And I agree with slugster: using SQLCE database might be a solution with better performance.