Parse TXT File Into 2D String Array in C#

Question

I am looking for a way to parse a text file I have into a 2D String array with 9 rows and 7 columns. Every Pip should be another column and every Enter should be another row. 100|What color is the sky?|Blue,Red,Green,Orange|Blue

Here is the code I have so far but I don't know how to correctly parse it.

private void loadQuestions()
    {
        string line;
        string[,] sQuestionArray = new string[9, 7];
        System.IO.StreamReader file = new System.IO.StreamReader("questions.txt");
        while ((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
        {

        }
        file.Close();
    }

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

When you say 7 columns, do you mean that commas should also be treated as separate columns as well? IE - Row 1 should be 100 - What color is the sky? - Blue - Red - Green - Orange - Blue ? — WEFX
– WEFX, Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 20:15
Given your example, how would you expect your array to be structured? (example) — Brad Christie
– Brad Christie, Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 20:16
Array should be like [100,What color is the sky,Blue,Red,Green,Orange,Blue] then there are 9 rows similar to that but the contents of each column vary. — Cistoran
– Cistoran, Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 20:24

Bala R · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-07 20:19:08Z

2

If you can use string[][] instead of string[,] then you can do

string[] lines = File.ReadAllLines("questions.txt");
string[][] result = lines.Select(l => l.Split(new []{'|', ','})).ToArray();

answered Oct 7, 2011 at 20:19

Bala R

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3 Comments

Cistoran Over a year ago

Just trying to figure out how yours works. I assume it stores the information in string [][] result but how do I call the values? I tried calling result[1][1]; but I just get an error "Index was outside bounds of the array."

Bala R Over a year ago

@Cistoran can you post a few lines of sample data? with just one line, you could try result[0][1] I guess.

Cistoran Over a year ago

Oh that works excellent, forgot that arrays start at 0 and not 1. Thanks!

Daniel Mann · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-07 20:19:16Z

0

Take a look at Split.

Ex: var splitLine=line.Split(new[] {',', '|'});

answered Oct 7, 2011 at 20:19

Daniel Mann

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