C# How to create array from .txt file

Question

New to C# Trying to figure out how to create an array from an exisitng .txt file. Call text file "filename" File contains pairs of elements separated by coma such as:

AGT, H

ATT, M

TAA, J

AAG, I

Eventually I need to pair these up again in a dictionary, but I don't think I need to use a 2D array, unless it's easier.
Any suggestions??? All ideas and advice is welcomed as I am new to C# and needing to learn VERY quickly.

Thank you!!

Answer 1

Use string.Split to get a string[] from the columns. Then you could get a IEnumerable<string[]> in this way:

var lines = File.ReadLines(l => l.Split(','));

If you want to materialize the query to a collection you could use ToList or ToArray:

List<string[]> lineList = lines.ToList();

If you want to create a Dictionary<string, string> instead (duplicate keys are not allowed):

var dict = lines.Select(l => l.Split(','))
               .ToDictionary(split => split.First(), split => split.Last());

Answer 2

You can read the lines, split each line into an array with two items, then fill a dictionary from it:

Dictionary<string, string> dict =
  File.ReadLines(filename)
  .Select(l => l.Split(new string[]{", "}, StringSplitOptions.None))
  .ToDictionary(p => p[0], p => p[1]);