Read From file data till reach ‘\0’

[Ronenb]

Hi I need to convert c code to C#, I need to open a file, read strings and init local members. The file is composed of strings and ‘\0’ between each string How can I read string while the indication of end of string is ‘\0’? The c code is int MAX_STR = 200; byte[] comment = new byte[MAX_STR]; fread( (char*)& comment, sizeof(comment),1,file); C# code that I Try is int MAX_STR = 200; byte[] comment = new byte[MAX_STR]; comment = m_brSWL.ReadBytes(MAX_STR); but the array is not init with the string I also try readChar but it read also the second string , not till uit reach ‘\0’ Any Idea? Thanks Ronen

[Lev Danielyan]

I don't have such a file at hand, but try this:

using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader("file")) {
string content = sr.ReadToEnd();
string[] strings = content.Split('\0');
}

Regards, Lev

[PIEBALDconsult]

It appears that you are trying to read the file as binary (the file was created by a legacy system?), so try the System.IO.BinaryReader's ReadString method, I haven't tried it (yet), but I suspect it may work. [Edit: I've tried it, it expects the new kind of string, not a null-terminated string. :( ] On the other hand, I'd more likely read in each byte separately.

modified on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 11:15 AM

[PIEBALDconsult]

Here's a fairly simple method:

    public static string
    ReadString
    (
        System.IO.Stream Stream
    ,
        byte             Terminator
    )
    {
        string result = null ;
        System.Collections.Generic.List<byte> bytes = 
            new System.Collections.Generic.List<byte>() ;
        int temp ;
        
        while ( true )
        {
            temp = Stream.ReadByte() ;
            
            if ( ( temp == Terminator ) || ( temp == -1 ))
            {
                break ;
            }
            
            bytes.Add ( (byte) temp ) ;
        }
        
        if ( bytes.Count > 0 )
        {
            result = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString ( bytes.ToArray() ) ;
        }
        else
        {
            if ( temp == Terminator )
            {
                result = "" ;
            }
        }
        
        return ( result ) ;
    }

You can convert it to an Extension Method if you like.

[Ronenb]

Thanks you all Ronen