Edit

How to read a text file one line at a time (C# Programming Guide)

  • Article
  • 2 minutes to read

This example reads the contents of a text file, one line at a time, into a string using the ReadLines method of the File class. Each text line is stored into the string line and displayed on the screen.

Example

int counter = 0;  
  
// Read the file and display it line by line.  
foreach (string line in System.IO.File.ReadLines(@"c:\test.txt"))
{  
    System.Console.WriteLine(line);  
    counter++;  
}  
  
System.Console.WriteLine("There were {0} lines.", counter);  
// Suspend the screen.  
System.Console.ReadLine();

Compiling the Code

Copy the code and paste it into the Main method of a console application.

Replace "c:\test.txt" with the actual file name.

Robust Programming

The following conditions may cause an exception:

  • The file may not exist.

.NET Security

Do not make decisions about the contents of the file based on the name of the file. For example, the file myFile.cs may not be a C# source file.

See also