C# read from text File and add to string array

Question

I need to read from a text file and add the lines to an array, however, there is one problem. when I open the text file in notepad everything looks good

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but if I open using notepad++, textpad, or any other text editor or even doing copy paste it will look like this

Here is the code:

using (var reader = new StreamReader(@"C:\Users\username\Desktop\Example\text1.txt".Replace("username", Environment.UserName)))
        {
            // Read the User Regex Format and add it to List
            string[] temp = reader.ReadToEnd().Split('\n');
            foreach (string s in temp)
                RegexFormat.Add(s);
        }

This has nothing to do with C#, you have a Text file with formatting issues, perhaps there are characters in the Text file that you cannot see that are stripped out when pasted into Notepad but when you you copy and paste into Notepad++ or Textpad those "hidden" characters are retained, simply copy and paste into Notepad, Notepad will strip any "surprise" characters and then copy from Notepad to Notepad++ or Textpad, should be the same in all 3 editors if you start with Notepad — Brian Ogden
– Brian Ogden, Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 23:38
You could try opening the file in a hex editor to see what the extra characters are — Ian
– Ian, Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 23:39
when I did copy paste from notepad and paste on another editor the results still were bad — Naor
– Naor, Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 23:39
Sometimes NotePad doesn't show some special characters, I will trust notepad++ more in this case, and this doesn't seem a programming related question if this is just the case. — Amr Elgarhy
– Amr Elgarhy, Commented Aug 25, 2018 at 23:44
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is not a programming question — Brian Ogden
– Brian Ogden, Commented Aug 26, 2018 at 16:59

score 2 · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-25 23:54:20Z

2

The text file probably contains windows line endings. Try using

string[] temp= reader.ReadToEnd().Split(new[] { "\r\n", "\r", "\n"},StringSplitOptions.None);

Explanation: When it comes to text files, Unix and Windows use different characters to represent a newline. Windows uses two characters called a carriage return (\r) and a newline (\n), while Unix only used a newline. Your text file probably had something weird and contained line endings in both formats. So when you opened it in notepad++ the lines with Windows endings showed an empty line.

Your old program only detected Unix line endings. By using the code I gave, the program is splitting the string whenever it sees any one of the 3 line endings: newline, carriage return, or both.

edited Aug 25, 2018 at 23:54

answered Aug 25, 2018 at 23:38

user5182794

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2 Comments

Naor Over a year ago

I can't use it: Cannot convert from string[] to char

Naor Over a year ago

it works now :) can you tell me why doing new[] { "\r\n", "\r", "\n"} fixed it and '\n' didn't?

Ashif Nataliya · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-25 23:42:03Z

0

This happens when the EOL control characters are not correct. Windows represents newlines with the carriage return and line feed. (CRLF)

In Notepad++, you can check for these characters by selecting:

View > Show Symbols > [x] Show End of Line

Verify what extra characters or bad characters you have in your file and then you need to modify your script replace or remove these characters.

answered Aug 25, 2018 at 23:42

Ashif Nataliya

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1 Comment

Naor Over a year ago

I see at the end of line "CR" or "CRLE"

neeKo · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-25 23:47:08Z

0

Just skip empty lines

using (var reader = ...){
    while(!reader.EndOfStream){
        var line = reader.ReadLine();
        if(!string.IsNullOrWhitespace(line))
            //add line 
    }
}

answered Aug 25, 2018 at 23:47

neeKo

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