Any difference between File.ReadAllText() and using a StreamReader to read file contents?

Question

At first I used a StreamReader to read text from a file:

StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(dialog.OpenFile()); txtEditor.Text = reader.ReadToEnd(); 

but found out about File.ReadAllText which seems to simplify my code to 1 line. Are there are any differences between the two? When should I use one over the other?

txtEditor.Text = File.ReadAllText(dialog.FileName); 

Answer 1

There are no differences if you are using the ReadToEnd() method. The difference is if you are using the ReadLine() method for large files as you are not loading the whole file into memory but rather allows you to process it in chunks.

So use File.ReadAllText() instead of ReadToEnd() as it makes your code shorter and more readable. It also takes care of properly disposing resources as you might forget doing with a StreamReader (as you did in your snippet).