C# StreamWriter: Writing Data to CSV File

[kiwijoey]

Can someone please, using the following data, show me how to write this data to a CSV file using the StreamWriter class in C#.

Bob,1,2,3
Jim,4,5,6
Tom,7,8,9

 

[harborsparrow]

using System.IO; // file readers and writers

string myInputLine = "some line to be written to a file";

string fileSpecification = "C:\test1.txt";

StreamWriter filewriter = new StreamWriter(
fileSpecification, true, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);

filewriter.WriteLine(myInputLine);
filewriter.Flush();

filewriter.Close();

 

[quicknote]

The StreamWriter class in C# is a useful tool for writing data to a CSV (comma-separated values) file. To use this class, we first need to create an instance of the StreamWriter object and specify the file path where we want to save the CSV file. Then, we can use the Write or WriteLine methods to write the data to the file.

In this case, the data consists of three rows, with each row containing four values: a name followed by three numbers. To write this data to a CSV file, we can use the following code:

```
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter("data.csv"))
{
writer.WriteLine("Bob,1,2,3");
writer.WriteLine("Jim,4,5,6");
writer.WriteLine("Tom,7,8,9");
}
```

This code will create a new CSV file called "data.csv" and write each row of data to it. The first row will contain the names "Bob", "1", "2", and "3" separated by commas. Similarly, the second and third rows will contain the names "Jim", "4", "5", "6" and "Tom", "7", "8", "9", respectively.

If you want to add the data to an existing CSV file instead of creating a new one, you can use the Append option when creating the StreamWriter object:

```
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter("data.csv", true))
{
writer.WriteLine("Bob,1,2,3");
writer.WriteLine("Jim,4,5,6");
writer.WriteLine("Tom,7,8,9");
}
```

This will append the data to the end of the existing file instead of overwriting it.

In conclusion, using the StreamWriter class in C# is a simple and efficient way to write data to a CSV file. By following these steps, you can easily save your data in a CSV format for further analysis or use.