CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.net
Colonel Panic
Colonel Panic

Reputation: 137594

How to write csv format compatible with Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser?

I use Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser to parse csv files.

I'd now know like to export some data to csv format. For consistency on the difficult csv behaviours (quoting, escaping, etc) I'd like to use the same class or a similar one - ideally in the standard library, so that I can trust to be compatible.

How can I do that?

Edit: My data to export is List<List<string>>

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2560

Answers (2)

Slai
Slai

Reputation: 22876

The characters that are escaped in standard CSV are Tab, CR, LF, double quote, and comma:

char[] chars = { '\t', '\r', '\n', '\"', ',' };

if (stringField.IndexOfAny(chars) >= 0)  
{
    stringField = '\"' + stringField.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + '\"'; // replace " with "" 
}

It can easily be tested with Excel or copying from a DataGridView control.

Upvotes: 1

Oded
Oded

Reputation: 499042

TextFieldParser can only be used to read structured text files, such as CSV files.

In order to write, I suggest using File Helpers, which can also be used to read CSV files (so can be an altogether replacement).

Upvotes: 1

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