parsing - How to parse a text file with C#

Question

By text formatting I meant something more complicated.

At first I began manually adding the 5000 lines from the text file I'm asking this question for,into my project.

The text file has 5000 lines with different length.For example:

1   1   ITEM_ETC_GOLD_01    ??(?)   xxx xxx xxx_TT_DESC 0   0   3   3   5   0   180000  3   0   1   0   0   255 1   1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   100 0   0   0   xxx itemetcdrop_ch_money_small.bsr    xxx xxx xxx 0   2   0   0   1   0   0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1   ??? ??? ?(param1??) -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx 0   0

1   4   ITEM_ETC_HP_POTION_01   HP ?? ??    xxx SN_ITEM_ETC_HP_POTION_01    SN_ITEM_ETC_HP_POTION_01_TT_DESC    0   0   3   3   1   1   180000  3   0   1   1   1   255 3   1   0   0   1   0   60  0   0   0   1   21  -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   100 0   0   0   xxx itemetcdrop_ch_bag.bsr    itemetchp_potion_01.ddj   xxx xxx 50  2   0   0   1   0   0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 120 HP???   0   HP???(%)    0   MP???   0   MP???(%)    -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx 0   0

1   5   ITEM_ETC_HP_POTION_02   HP ??? (?)  xxx SN_ITEM_ETC_HP_POTION_02    SN_ITEM_ETC_HP_POTION_02_TT_DESC    0   0   3   3   1   1   180000  3   0   1   1   1   255 3   1   0   0   1   0   110 0   0   0   2   39  -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   -1  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   100 0   0   0   xxx itemetcdrop_ch_bag.bsr    itemetchp_potion_02.ddj   xxx xxx 50  2   0   0   2   0   0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 220 HP???   0   HP???(%)    0   MP???   0   MP???(%)    -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx -1  xxx 0   0

The text between the first character(1) and the second character(1/4/5) is not a whitespace,it's a tab.There's no whitespaces in that text file.

What I want:

I want to get the second integer(In the three lines I posted above,the second integers are 1,4 and 5) and the string in the middle of each line indicating the path(It starts with "item" and ends with the file extension ".ddj").

My problem:

When I google "Text formatting C#" - all I get is how to open a text file and how to write a text file in C#.I don't know how to search for text inside a text file.Also I can't search for the first integer,because in case its a small integer like in the three lines I posted above,I wont be able to find the corrent location,because for example "1" might exist in a different location.

My question:

It would be the best If I write a program that would delete anything,but what I need.

The other way in my mind is to directly search inside that file,but as I mentioned above - I might get the wrong location of the second integer if its too low.

Please suggest something,I can't format all this by hand.

Answer 1

OK, here's what we do: open the file, read it line by line, and split it by tabs. Then we grab the second integer and loop through the rest to find the path.

StreamReader reader = File.OpenText("filename.txt");
string line;
while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null) 
{
    string[] items = line.Split('');
    int myInteger = int.Parse(items[1]);   // Here's your integer.

    // Now let's find the path.
    string path = null;
    foreach (string item in items) 
    {
        if (item.StartsWith("item") && item.EndsWith(".ddj"))
            path = item;
    }

    // At this point, `myInteger` and `path` contain the values we want
    // for the current line. We can then store those values or print them,
    // or anything else we like.
}