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.NET Framework 3.5
System.IO Namespace
StreamReader Class
 StreamReader Constructor (String, B...
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This page is specific to
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:
.NET Framework Class Library
StreamReader Constructor (String, Boolean)

Initializes a new instance of the StreamReader class for the specified file name, with the specified byte order mark detection option.

Namespace:  System.IO
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Sub New ( _
    path As String, _
    detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks As Boolean _
)
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim path As String
Dim detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks As Boolean

Dim instance As New StreamReader(path, detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks)
C#
public StreamReader(
    string path,
    bool detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks
)
Visual C++
public:
StreamReader(
    String^ path, 
    bool detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks
)
JScript
public function StreamReader(
    path : String, 
    detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks : boolean
)

Parameters

path
Type: System..::.String
The complete file path to be read.
detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks
Type: System..::.Boolean
Indicates whether to look for byte order marks at the beginning of the file.
ExceptionCondition
ArgumentException

path is an empty string ("").

ArgumentNullException

path is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

FileNotFoundException

The file cannot be found.

DirectoryNotFoundException

The specified path is invalid, such as being on an unmapped drive.

IOException

path includes an incorrect or invalid syntax for file name, directory name, or volume label.

This constructor initializes the encoding to UTF8Encoding, the BaseStream property using the stream parameter, and the internal buffer to the default size.

The path parameter can be a file name, including a file on a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) share.

The path parameter is not required to be a file stored on disk; it can be any part of a system that supports access using streams.

The detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks parameter detects the encoding by looking at the first three bytes of the stream. It automatically recognizes UTF-8, little-endian Unicode, and big-endian Unicode text if the file starts with the appropriate byte order marks. Otherwise, the user-provided encoding is used. See the Encoding..::.GetPreamble method for more information.

For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.

The following code example demonstrates this StreamReader constructor.

Visual Basic
Private Sub getNewStreamReader()
    Dim S As Stream = File.OpenRead("C:\Temp\Test.txt")
    'Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
    'file using a buffer and byte order mark detection
    Dim SrAsciiFromFileFalse512 As StreamReader = New StreamReader("C:\Temp\Test.txt", _
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII, False, 512)
    'Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
    'file with byte order mark detection = false
    Dim SrAsciiFromFileFalse As StreamReader = New StreamReader("C:\Temp\Test.txt", _
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII, False)
    'Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a file 
    Dim SrAsciiFromFile As StreamReader = New StreamReader("C:\Temp\Test.txt", _
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII)
    'Get a new StreamReader from a
    'file with byte order mark detection = false        
    Dim SrFromFileFalse As StreamReader = New StreamReader("C:\Temp\Test.txt", False)
    'Get a new StreamReader from a file
    Dim SrFromFile As StreamReader = New StreamReader("C:\Temp\Test.txt")
    'Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
    'FileStream with byte order mark detection = false and a buffer
    Dim SrAsciiFromStreamFalse512 As StreamReader = New StreamReader(S, _
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII, False, 512)
    'Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
    'FileStream with byte order mark detection = false
    Dim SrAsciiFromStreamFalse = New StreamReader(S, _
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII, False)
    'Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a FileStream
    Dim SrAsciiFromStream As StreamReader = New StreamReader(S, _
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII)
    'Get a new StreamReader from a
    'FileStream with byte order mark detection = false
    Dim SrFromStreamFalse As StreamReader = New StreamReader(S, False)
    'Get a new StreamReader from a FileStream
    Dim SrFromStream As StreamReader = New StreamReader(S)

End Sub
C#
private void getNewStreamReader() 
{
    //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
    //file using a buffer and byte order mark detection
    StreamReader srAsciiFromFileFalse512 = 
        new StreamReader("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt",
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII, false, 512);
    //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
    //file with byte order mark detection = false
    StreamReader srAsciiFromFileFalse = 
        new StreamReader("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt",
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII, false);
    //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a file 
    StreamReader srAsciiFromFile = 
        new StreamReader("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt",
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII);
    //Get a new StreamReader from a
    //file with byte order mark detection = false
    StreamReader srFromFileFalse = 
        new StreamReader("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt", false);
    //Get a new StreamReader from a file
    StreamReader srFromFile = 
        new StreamReader("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt");
    //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
    //FileStream with byte order mark detection = false and a buffer
    StreamReader srAsciiFromStreamFalse512 = new StreamReader(
        (System.IO.Stream)File.OpenRead("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt"),
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII, false, 512);
    //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
    //FileStream with byte order mark detection = false
    StreamReader srAsciiFromStreamFalse = new StreamReader(
        (System.IO.Stream)File.OpenRead("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt"),
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII, false);
    //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a FileStream
    StreamReader srAsciiFromStream = new StreamReader(
        (System.IO.Stream)File.OpenRead("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt"),
        System.Text.Encoding.ASCII);
    //Get a new StreamReader from a
    //FileStream with byte order mark detection = false
    StreamReader srFromStreamFalse = new StreamReader(
        (System.IO.Stream)File.OpenRead("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt"), 
        false);
    //Get a new StreamReader from a FileStream
    StreamReader srFromStream = new StreamReader(
        (System.IO.Stream)File.OpenRead("C:\\Temp\\Test.txt"));
}
Visual C++
void getNewStreamReader()
{

   //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
   //file using a buffer and byte order mark detection
   StreamReader^ srAsciiFromFileFalse512 = gcnew StreamReader(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt",System::Text::Encoding::ASCII,false,512 );

   //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
   //file with byte order mark detection = false
   StreamReader^ srAsciiFromFileFalse = gcnew StreamReader(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt",System::Text::Encoding::ASCII,false );

   //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a file 
   StreamReader^ srAsciiFromFile = gcnew StreamReader(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt",System::Text::Encoding::ASCII );

   //Get a new StreamReader from a
   //file with byte order mark detection = false
   StreamReader^ srFromFileFalse = gcnew StreamReader(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt",false );

   //Get a new StreamReader from a file
   StreamReader^ srFromFile = gcnew StreamReader(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt" );

   //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
   //FileStream with byte order mark detection = false and a buffer
   StreamReader^ srAsciiFromStreamFalse512 = gcnew StreamReader( File::OpenRead(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt" ),System::Text::Encoding::ASCII,false,512 );

   //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a
   //FileStream with byte order mark detection = false
   StreamReader^ srAsciiFromStreamFalse = gcnew StreamReader( File::OpenRead(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt" ),System::Text::Encoding::ASCII,false );

   //Get a new StreamReader in ASCII format from a FileStream
   StreamReader^ srAsciiFromStream = gcnew StreamReader( File::OpenRead(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt" ),System::Text::Encoding::ASCII );

   //Get a new StreamReader from a
   //FileStream with byte order mark detection = false
   StreamReader^ srFromStreamFalse = gcnew StreamReader( File::OpenRead(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt" ),false );

   //Get a new StreamReader from a FileStream
   StreamReader^ srFromStream = gcnew StreamReader( File::OpenRead(  "C:\\Temp\\Test.txt" ) );
}


Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
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Warning: Default encoding has security issues      dmatson   |   Edit   |   Show History
As noted on http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.text.unicodeencoding.aspx:
To enable error detection and to make the class instance more secure, the application should use the UnicodeEncoding constructor that takes a throwOnInvalidBytes parameter, and set that parameter to true. With error detection, a method that detects an invalid sequence of characters or bytes throws a ArgumentException. Without error detection, no exception is thrown, and the invalid sequence is generally ignored.

This constructor uses the Encoding.UTF8 property, which does NOT enable error detection. To enable error detection, an application should instead use an explicit instance of the UTF8Encoding class. For example:

StreamReader reader = newStreamReader(path, newUTF8Encoding(true, true), detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks);
Processing
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