How do I handle line breaks in a CSV file using C#?

Question

I have an Excel spreadsheet being converted into a CSV file in C#, but am having a problem dealing with line breaks. For instance:

\"John\",\"23\",\"555-555         


        

Answer 1

There is a built-in method for reading CSV files in .NET (requires Microsoft.VisualBasic assembly reference added):

public static IEnumerable ReadSV(TextReader reader, params string[] separators)
{
    var parser = new Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser(reader);
    parser.SetDelimiters(separators);
    while (!parser.EndOfData)
        yield return parser.ReadFields();
}

If you're dealing with really large files this CSV reader claims to be the fastest one you'll find: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/9258/A-Fast-CSV-Reader