Parse CSV

The following is an example of how to parse a CSV file that may contain a ',' character within a field.

You must add a 'Microsoft.VisualBasic' to the references in your project.

// the CSV import line to parse.
const string sImportLine = "2,1999,3/16/2017,\"Callison,James\",\"1234\",http://www.socius1.com,\"He said, \"\"this is crazy!\"\"\",5' 10\" (178 centimeters)";

StringBuilder sbOutput = new StringBuilder(sImportLine);
            
// create a stream reader object out of the import line that needs to be parsed.
using (var stream = new System.IO.StringReader(sImportLine))
// create an instance of the parser object. (There are other constructors that take various parameters)
using (Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser parser = new Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser(stream))
{
   // set some properties on the parser object.
   parser.HasFieldsEnclosedInQuotes = true;
   parser.SetDelimiters(",");
   parser.TextFieldType = Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FieldType.Delimited;

   // declare a string array that will hold the parsed values.
   string[] fields;

   // keep going while there is still data to be read. (Note: this example will only have 1 line)
   while (!parser.EndOfData)
   {
      // parse the fields and store them into our string array.
      fields = parser.ReadFields();

      // do something with the parsed fields.
      if (fields != null)
      {
         // iterate through our string array
         foreach (var fld in fields)
         {
            // add the field to a separate line in the StringBuilder object.
            sbOutput.AppendLine();
            sbOutput.Append(fld);
         }
      }
   }

   // close the parser object.
   parser.Close();
}

See also Import a CSV file