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Home Interviews How do you read a CSV file and parse it into a list of objects? – MindStick
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1 Answers

ICSM Computer
ICSM Computer 14 May 2025
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To read a CSV file and parse it into a list of objects in C#, you can use:

  1. System.IO + string.Split() for simple CSVs
  2. Libraries like CsvHelper for more robust parsing (e.g., quotes, commas inside fields)

Option 1: Basic CSV Parsing (no quotes, no escaped commas)

Sample CSV (people.csv):

Id,Name,Email
1,John,john@example.com
2,Jane,jane@example.com

Model:

public class Person
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
}

Read and Parse:

var people = new List<Person>();
var lines = File.ReadAllLines("people.csv");

foreach (var line in lines.Skip(1)) // Skip header
{
    var parts = line.Split(',');

    people.Add(new Person
    {
        Id = int.Parse(parts[0]),
        Name = parts[1],
        Email = parts[2]
    });
}

Option 2: Use CsvHelper (recommended for real-world use)

Install via NuGet:

dotnet add package CsvHelper

Parsing:

using CsvHelper;
using System.Globalization;
using System.IO;

using (var reader = new StreamReader("people.csv"))
using (var csv = new CsvReader(reader, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture))
{
    var people = csv.GetRecords<Person>().ToList();
}
  1. Handles quoted fields, escape characters, custom delimiters, etc.
  2. Fast and production-ready.

Tip:

If your CSV has a custom delimiter (e.g., ;), configure like this:

new CsvReader(reader, new CsvConfiguration(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
{
    Delimiter = ";"
});
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