Save List<string> and List<double> to a .txt file's specific column

Question

I have a C# WinForm application that has many List<string> and List<double> . I need to create a new .txt file and save each List<> to a specific column of the text file.

I tried WriteAllLines function but it write one List<> .

I also tried to create an Excel file so I can specify which column I want the List<> save to. But I have a hard time to save the temporary excel file as a .txt file.

I know this code can save an existing excel file as a PDF, but similar functions that save the excel as a text file doesn't exist.

NewExcelWorkBook.ExportAsFixedFormat(Excel.XlFixedFormatType.xlTypePDF, "Holdings in BE Import Format.txt", Excel.XlFixedFormatQuality.xlQualityStandard, true,
                                                          false, 1, 10, true);

Please tell me a way to write multiple List<> to specific .txt file column, or you can tell me how to save the excel file as a .txt file. Skipping the temporary excel file would be ideal, but this solution is acceptable if writing to .txt directly is hard.

Thank you so much!

Answer 1

If you want your first column to be of fixed size of 20 characters, you can try the following:

List<string> stringList = new List<string>
    {
        "ABCDEF",
        "DEF",
        "GHIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA",
        "SOMETHNG LONGER THAN 20 characters",
    };

List<double> doubleList = new List<double>
    {
        1d,
        2,
        3,
        4
    };

List<string> combined = new List<string>();
int count = stringList.Count >= doubleList.Count ? stringList.Count : doubleList.Count;
for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
{
    string firstColumn = stringList.Count <= i ? "" : stringList[i];
    string secondColumn = doubleList.Count <= i ? "" : doubleList[i].ToString();
    if (firstColumn.Length > 20)
    {
        //truncate rest of the values
        firstColumn = firstColumn.Substring(0, 20);
    }
    else
    {
        firstColumn = firstColumn + new string(' ', 20 - firstColumn.Length);
    }
    combined.Add(string.Format("{0} {1}", firstColumn, secondColumn));
}

File.WriteAllLines("yourFilePath.csv", combined);

Ouput file would be like:

ABCDEF               1
DEF                  2
GHIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA    3
SOMETHNG LONGER THAN 4

Answer 2

        List<string> list1 = new List<string>();
        List<int> list2 = new List<int>();
        //...
        string separator = "\t";
        using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(fileName)){
            for (int i = 0; i<Math.Max(list1.Count, list2.Count); i++){
                var element1 = i < list1.Count ? list1[i] : "";
                var element2 = i < list2.Count ? list2[i].ToString() : "";
                writer.Write(element1);
                writer.Write(separator);
                writer.WriteLine(element2);
            }
        }