asp.net Convert CSV string to string[]

Question

Is there an easy way to convert a string from csv format into a string[] or list?

I can guarantee that there are no commas in the data.

Answer 1

String.Split is just not going to cut it, but a Regex.Split may - Try this one:

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

string[] line;
line = Regex.Split( input, ",(?=(?:[^\"]*\"[^\"]*\")*(?![^\"]*\"))");

Where 'input' is the csv line. This will handle quoted delimiters, and should give you back an array of strings representing each field in the line.

Answer 2

If you want robust CSV handling, check out FileHelpers

Answer 3

string[] splitString = origString.Split(',');

(Following comment not added by original answerer) Please keep in mind that this answer addresses the SPECIFIC case where there are guaranteed to be NO commas in the data.

Answer 4

Try:

Regex rex = new Regex(",(?=([^\"]*\"[^\"]*\")*(?![^\"]*\"))");
string[] values = rex.Split( csvLine );

Source: http://weblogs.asp.net/prieck/archive/2004/01/16/59457.aspx