"cannot convert from 'string' to 'System.IO.Stream'" while reading a file line by line using StreamReader

Question

I am following a tutorial online to read a simple text file line by line in c# but I get this error that I can't wrap my head around.

This is my simple code:

StreamReader reader = new StreamReader("hello.txt");

but this gives me an error:

Argument 1: cannot convert from 'string' to 'System.IO.Stream'

This article on msdn uses the same code and there it works, what am I doing wrong?

Solution

If you want to read a file the easiest way is

var path = "c:\\mypath\\to\\my\\file.txt";
var lines = File.ReadAllLines(path);

foreach (var line in lines)
{
    Console.WriteLine(line);
}

You can also do it like this:

var path = "c:\\mypath\\to\\my\\file.txt";
using (var reader = new StreamReader(path))
{
    while (!reader.EndOfStream)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadLine());
    }
}

Comments

[Dan D]

Have your tried a clean and rebuild? The constructor with a string parameter is definitely valid. I'm assuming this error is at compile-time correct?

[D.J.]

What framework do you use ?

[D.J.]

@DanD hard to say without knowing the used framework, this constructor for example is not included in netStandard<2.0, also this is missing in netCore<2.0

[Titulum]

I'm new to c#, where can I see which framework I use?

[Dan D]

@d-j good point on different frameworks, In your project file *.csproj you should see a TargetFramework section.

[Matthew Watson]

If you're using foreach then you should use File.ReadLines() to avoid having the entire file in memory.

[benichka]

What's the use of counter? Plus, for a type that implements IDisposable, you should use the using pattern (or put your file.Close() in a finally block): see docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/garbage-collection/‌​….