Question

I have a text file that contains some data in a “block” format:

source : source location
filename : somefile.txt
vendor : somevendor
version : xx.xx.xxx

source : source location2
filename : somefile2.txt
vendor : somevendor2
version : yy.yy.yyy

can I use Linq to query this data and if so how would you go about it? I have used linq to query lines of data from text file many times, but never a “block” of data as above. Thanks for the input.

Answer 1

Yes, you can use LINQ, this approach is not optimized much if you have large file. Below is how to get data:

var lines = File.ReadLines("C:\\text.txt")
                .Where(line => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(line))
                .ToList();

for (int i = 0; i < lines.Count; i += 4)
{
    var location = lines[i].Split(':')[1];
    var fileName = lines[i + 1].Split(':')[1];
    var vendor = lines[i + 2].Split(':')[1];
    var version = lines[i + 3].Split(':')[1];
}

Version to use LINQ:

var result = Enumerable.Range(0, lines.Count()/4).Select(i => new {
        location = lines[4*i].Split(':')[1];
        fileName = lines[4*i + 1].Split(':')[1];
        vendor = lines[4*i + 2].Split(':')[1];
        version = lines[4*i + 3].Split(':')[1];
    });