Easiest way to parse a comma delimited string to some kind of object I can loop through to access the individual values?

Question

Hi,

What is the easiest way to parse a comma delimited string list of values into some kind of object that I can loop through, so that I can access the individual values easily?

example string: "0, 10, 20, 30, 100, 200"

I'm a bit new to C#, so forgive me for asking a simple question like this. Thanks.

Answer 1

   var stringToSplit = "0, 10, 20, 30, 100, 200";

---

    // To parse your string 
    var elements = test.Split(new[]
    { ',' }, System.StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

---

    // To Loop through
    foreach (string items in elements)
    {
       // enjoy
    }

Answer 2

there are gotchas with this - but ultimately the simplest way will be to use

string s = [yourlongstring];
string[] values = s.Split(',');

If the number of commas and entries isn't important, and you want to get rid of 'empty' values then you can use

string[] values = s.Split(",".ToCharArray(), StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

One thing, though - this will keep any whitespace before and after your strings. You could use a bit of Linq magic to solve that:

string[] values = s.Split(',').Select(sValue => sValue.Trim()).ToArray();

That's if you're using .Net 3.5 and you have the using System.Linq declaration at the top of your source file.

Answer 3

You can use this library: A Fast CSV Reader

Answer 4

Use Linq, it is a very quick an easy way.

string mystring = "0, 10, 20, 30, 100, 200";

var query = from val in mystring.Split(',')
            select int.Parse(val);
foreach (int num in query)
{
     Console.WriteLine(num);
}

Answer 5

Look into the microsoft Jet engine ;) they have already handled most of the functionality you are likely to need, although this is an OTT solution if you are only handling a small amount of data, If so splitting the string on the delimiter as mentioned above ftw.

Microsoft JET Wiki

Answer 6

You can use FileHelpers library to read CSV into an object. http://www.codeproject.com/KB/database/filehelpers.aspx

Answer 7

The pattern matches all non-digit characters. This will restrict you to non-negative integers, but for your example it will be more than sufficient.

string input = "0, 10, 20, 30, 100, 200";
Regex.Split(input, @"\D+");

Answer 8

I think it's better to use the Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser Class if you're working with comma separated values text files.