Articles → ADO.NET → Reading CSV Files In Ado.Net

Reading CSV Files In Ado.Net

In this tutorial I will explain how to read a CSV file.

CSV File

Click to Enlarge

This is the sample CSV file which we will read using the Oledb data provider.

Implementation

ADO.NET reads the CSV file in a very similar way as table in database. The difference is in the connection string.

Connection string

Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=<folder_Name>;Extended Properties='text;HDR=Yes';

The first thing to notice in the connection string is data source which is the folder name where the CSV file is stored. For example if the CSV file path is d:\abc.csv then the folder name should be d:\.

Second thing is extended property which is ‘text;HDR=Yes’. The first parameter i.e. text is the file type. Second parameter i.e. HDR when set to true means the first line of the CSV file is header.

string connectionString = string.Format("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source={0};Extended Properties='text;HDR=Yes';", @ "D:\");
string commandText = "select * from abc.csv"; 
using(OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(connectionString)) {
  using(OleDbDataAdapter adap = new OleDbDataAdapter(commandText, conn)) {
    conn.Open();
    using(DataSet ds = new DataSet()) {
      adap.Fill(ds);
    }
  }
}

See the commandText variable, oledb data provider treats CSV file as table. Run the program and see the output.

Output

Picture showing the records of CSV file in the data table

Click to Enlarge

Posted By -	Karan Gupta

Posted On -	Sunday, December 18, 2011

Query/Feedback

Your Email Id		**

Subject		*

Query/Feedback	Characters remaining 250	**