Easiest way to read from and write to files

Question

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.

Solution 1

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);

Solution 2

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".

Solution 3

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");
    }
}

Solution 4

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.

Solution 5

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);
}

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