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Home Forums What class would you use to read a file line-by-line? – MindStick
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1 Answers

Utpal Vishwas
Utpal Vishwas 20 May 2025
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To read a file line by line in C#, you commonly use the StreamReader class.

Best Class: System.IO.StreamReader

Example:

using System;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader("file.txt"))
        {
            string? line;
            while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(line);
            }
        }
    }
}
  1. StreamReader.ReadLine() reads one line at a time.
  2. The using statement ensures the file is closed properly after reading.

Alternative: File.ReadLines()

For simpler cases, you can use File.ReadLines(), which is more concise and memory-efficient for large files:

foreach (string line in File.ReadLines("file.txt"))
{
    Console.WriteLine(line);
}

Also reads lazily (line by line), unlike File.ReadAllLines() which reads the entire file at once.

Summary

Class/Method Description Reads Line-by-Line?
StreamReader Low-level, full control Yes
File.ReadLines() Recommended for simplicity Yes
File.ReadAllLines() Loads all lines into memory array No (not lazy)
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