TextFieldParser.ReadFields Method

public:
 cli::array <System::String ^> ^ ReadFields();

public string[]? ReadFields();

public string[] ReadFields();

member this.ReadFields : unit -> string[]

Public Function ReadFields () As String()

Returns

An array of strings that contains field values for the current line.

Exceptions

Examples

This example uses the ReadFields method to read from the comma-delimited file ParserText.txt. The example writes the fields to Testfile.txt.

Using MyReader As New Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser("C:\ParserText.txt")
 MyReader.TextFieldType = Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FieldType.Delimited
 MyReader.Delimiters = New String() {","}
 Dim currentRow As String()
 While Not MyReader.EndOfData
 Try
 currentRow = MyReader.ReadFields()
 For Each currentField As String In currentRow
 My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText(
 "C://testfile.txt", currentField, True)
 Next
 Catch ex As Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.MalformedLineException
 MsgBox("Line " & ex.Message & " is invalid. Skipping")
 End Try
 End While
End Using

Remarks

In order to allow users to parse text files in multiple formats, the ReadFields method examines the values of TextFieldType, Delimiters, and FieldWidths, if they are specified, each time it is called. Users need to correctly configure the TextFieldType and FieldWidths or Delimiters properties, as appropriate. If TextFieldType is set to Delimited, and Delimiters is not set, or if TextFieldType is set to FixedWidth and FieldWidths is not set, an exception is thrown.

If ReadFields encounters blank lines, they are skipped and the next non-blank line is returned.

If the ReadFields method cannot parse the current line, it raises an exception and does not move to the next line. This enables your application to attempt to parse the line again.

The following table lists examples of tasks involving the ReadFields method.

See also

• OpenTextFieldParser(String)
• TextFieldType
• FieldWidths
• Delimiters
• ReadLine()
• Objects (Visual Basic)
• How to: Read From a Comma-Delimited Text File in Visual Basic
• How to: Read From a Fixed-width Text File in Visual Basic
• How to: Read From a Text File with Multiple Formats in Visual Basic
• Parsing Text Files with the TextFieldParser Object