.NET Framework Class Library
StreamWriter Class

Implements a TextWriter for writing characters to a stream in a particular encoding.

Namespace:  System.IO
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)
<SerializableAttribute> _
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
Public Class StreamWriter _
    Inherits TextWriter
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim instance As StreamWriter
C#
[SerializableAttribute]
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
public class StreamWriter : TextWriter
Visual C++
[SerializableAttribute]
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
public ref class StreamWriter : public TextWriter
JScript
public class StreamWriter extends TextWriter
Remarks

StreamWriter is designed for character output in a particular encoding, whereas classes derived from Stream are designed for byte input and output.

StreamWriter defaults to using an instance of UTF8Encoding unless specified otherwise. This instance of UTF8Encoding is constructed without a byte order mark (BOM), so its GetPreamble method returns an empty byte array. To create a StreamWriter using UTF-8 encoding and a BOM, consider using a constructor that specifies encoding, such as StreamWriter(String, Boolean, Encoding).

By default, a StreamWriter is not thread safe. See TextWriter..::.Synchronized for a thread-safe wrapper.

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

Examples

The following example shows how to use a StreamWriter object to write a file that lists the directories on the C drive, and then use a [T.System.IO.StreamReader] object to read and display each directory name. A good practice is to use these objects in a using statement so that the unmanaged resources are correctly disposed. The using statement automatically calls Dispose on the object when the code that is using it has completed.

Visual Basic
Imports System.IO
Class Program

    Shared Sub Main()

        ' Get the directores currently on the C drive.
        Dim cDirs As DirectoryInfo() = New DirectoryInfo("c:\").GetDirectories()

        ' Write each directory name to a file.
        Using sw As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter("CDriveDirs.txt")
            For Each Dir As DirectoryInfo In cDirs
                sw.WriteLine(Dir.Name)
            Next
        End Using

        'Read and show each line from the file.
        Dim line As String = ""
        Using sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader("CDriveDirs.txt")
            Do
                line = sr.ReadLine()
                Console.WriteLine(line)
            Loop Until line Is Nothing
        End Using


    End Sub

End Class
C#
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;

namespace StreamReadWrite
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Get the directories currently on the C drive.
            DirectoryInfo[] cDirs = new DirectoryInfo(@"c:\").GetDirectories();

            // Write each directory name to a file.
            using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("CDriveDirs.txt"))
            {
                foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in cDirs)
                {
                    sw.WriteLine(dir.Name);

                }
            }

            // Read and show each line from the file.
            string line = "";
            using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader("CDriveDirs.txt"))
            {
                while ((line = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(line);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
Inheritance Hierarchy

System..::.Object
  System..::.MarshalByRefObject
    System.IO..::.TextWriter
      System.IO..::.StreamWriter
Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
Platforms

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.
Version Information

.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
See Also

Reference

Other Resources

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