Create, Read, Write, Copy, Move and Delete a Text File using C# and VB.NET

In this article, we will explore some common text file operations using C# and VB.NET. This article has been requested by a long time reader of dotnetcurry.com. NET provides various classes like the File and FileInfo, to create, read, write and perform such similar operations on a text file. For example, you can use the Create() method of the File class to create a text file. The same could also be done using the CreateText() method of the FileInfo class. Similarly these classes also contain functionality to copy, move or delete a file. The trick is to find out when to use which class and for what purpose.

The ‘File’ class contains static methods and performs security checks on all the methods. The FileInfo contains instance methods and security check is not necessary. So this method is useful if you plan to use the same instance of the class in multiple operations.

However for copying, moving or deleting the files, the static methods are faster. Moreover, the Garbage Collector has less work to do when you use the File class, since the methods are static.

For reading and writing text files, we have some abstract classes like the TextReader and TextWriter classes. There are some useful classes like the StreamReader, StringReader, StreamWriter and StringWriter that derive from these abstract classes.

This article is by no means a comprehensive guide to demonstrate the capabilities of these classes. It should be treated as a ‘How do I’ kind of a series to demonstrate some of the capabilities of these classes. I will be giving some references at the end of this article, which should be read to gain a better understanding of these classes. Let us now see some code which demonstrates how to use these classes.

Before you go ahead and use these methods, declare a class variable called ‘fileLoc’ which contains the filepath of the text file.

C#

string fileLoc = @"c:\sample1.txt";

VB.NET

Dim fileLoc As String = "c:\sample1.txt"

You would also need to reference the System.IO namespace in your project.

Create a Text File

C#

// Create a Text File

private void btnCreate_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

FileStream fs = null;

if (!File.Exists(fileLoc))

{

using (fs = File.Create(fileLoc))

{

}

}

}

VB.NET

' Create a Text File

Private Sub btnCreate_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

Dim fs As FileStream = Nothing

If (Not File.Exists(fileLoc)) Then

fs = File.Create(fileLoc)

Using fs

End Using

End If

End Sub

Write to a Text File

C#

// Write to a Text File

private void btnWrite_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

if (File.Exists(fileLoc))

{

using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(fileLoc))

{

sw.Write("Some sample text for the file");

}

}

}

VB.NET

' Write to a Text File

Private Sub btnWrite_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

If File.Exists(fileLoc) Then

Using sw As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter(fileLoc)

sw.Write("Some sample text for the file")

End Using

End If

End Sub

Read From a Text File

C#

// Read From a Text File

private void btnRead_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

if (File.Exists(fileLoc))

{

using (TextReader tr = new StreamReader(fileLoc))

{

MessageBox.Show(tr.ReadLine());

}

}

}

VB.NET

' Read From a Text File

Private Sub btnRead_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

If File.Exists(fileLoc) Then

Using tr As TextReader = New StreamReader(fileLoc)

MessageBox.Show(tr.ReadLine())

End Using

End If

End Sub

Copy a Text File

C#

// Copy a Text File

private void btnCopy_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

string fileLocCopy = @"d:\sample1.txt";

if (File.Exists(fileLoc))

{

// If file already exists in destination, delete it.

if (File.Exists(fileLocCopy))

File.Delete(fileLocCopy);

File.Copy(fileLoc, fileLocCopy);

}

}

VB.NET

' Copy a Text File

Private Sub btnCopy_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

Dim fileLocCopy As String = "d:\sample1.txt"

If File.Exists(fileLoc) Then

' If file already exists in destination, delete it.

If File.Exists(fileLocCopy) Then

File.Delete(fileLocCopy)

End If

File.Copy(fileLoc, fileLocCopy)

End If

End Sub

Move a Text File

C#

// Move a Text file

private void btnMove_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

// Create unique file name

string fileLocMove = @"d:\sample1" + System.DateTime.Now.Ticks + ".txt";

if (File.Exists(fileLoc))

{

File.Move(fileLoc, fileLocMove);

}

}

VB.NET

' Move a Text file

Private Sub btnMove_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

' Create unique file name

Dim fileLocMove As String = "d:\sample1" & System.DateTime.Now.Ticks & ".txt"

If File.Exists(fileLoc) Then

File.Move(fileLoc, fileLocMove)

End If

End Sub

Delete a Text File

C#

// Delete a text file

private void btnDelete_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

if (File.Exists(fileLoc))

{

File.Delete(fileLoc);

}

}

VB.NET

' Delete a text file

Private Sub btnDelete_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

If File.Exists(fileLoc) Then

File.Delete(fileLoc)

End If

End Sub

We saw how to achieve some of the most common requirements while dealing with text files. Take a look at these reference links below to get a detailed understanding of the File and FileInfo class.

References :

File Class

FileInfo Class

File System and Registry Guide

I hope this article was useful and I thank you for viewing it.