Parsing CSV files in C#, with header

Question

Is there a default/official/recommended way to parse CSV files in C#? I don\'t want to roll my own parser.

Also, I\'ve seen instances of people using ODBC/OLE DB to

Answer 1

Here is a helper class I use often, in case any one ever comes back to this thread (I wanted to share it).

I use this for the simplicity of porting it into projects ready to use:

public class CSVHelper : List
{
  protected string csv = string.Empty;
  protected string separator = ",";

  public CSVHelper(string csv, string separator = "\",\"")
  {
    this.csv = csv;
    this.separator = separator;

    foreach (string line in Regex.Split(csv, System.Environment.NewLine).ToList().Where(s => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(s)))
    {
      string[] values = Regex.Split(line, separator);

      for (int i = 0; i < values.Length; i++)
      {
        //Trim values
        values[i] = values[i].Trim('\"');
      }

      this.Add(values);
    }
  }
}

And use it like:

public List GetPeople(string csvContent)
{
  List people = new List();
  CSVHelper csv = new CSVHelper(csvContent);
  foreach(string[] line in csv)
  {
    Person person = new Person();
    person.Name = line[0];
    person.TelephoneNo = line[1];
    people.Add(person);
  }
  return people;
}

[Updated csv helper: bug fixed where the last new line character created a new line]