Access TextReader as a Stream

Question

I would like to have similar functionality for a TextReader that a Stream has. Specifically the ability to set position in the stream. Is there any way to change a TextReader into a stream?

I would like to accept a TextReader but access it like a Stream.

Answer 1

You can obtain a Stream through the use of the StreamReader class. StreamReader is a subclass of TextReader so you can easily access its stream property by doing the following:

    TextReader reader = File.OpenText("C:\\todo.txt");
    Stream stream = ((StreamReader)reader).BaseStream;

Depending on what you need to do, you may also be able to just use the StreamReader class.

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.streamreader.aspx

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

You can't do this in the general case. Not all TextReader instances are based on streams.

Also, a TextReader is based on lines of text, where the line terminators may not be the sort that you can back up over.