BinaryReader.ReadLine extension

Introduction

The .NET framework has to distinct classes: BinaryReader reads bytes and binary whereas TextReader and StreamReader are reading texts.

In some situations you might want to switch from one to the other, typically if you want to read an FTP or HTTP streaml, you'll need to have the ability to read both ASCII and Binary from the the same stream.

Many people have requested it in forums. I have seen several attempts to achieved this but haven't seen anything simple that cover all encodings.  This is why I decided to post my solution.

This little function offer a simple (if not super fast) method to get a string (encoded in ASCII or any other encoding), from a BinaryReader.

Using the code

There is no DLL to add. Simply add the class below to your solution.

The code add a ReadLine() new method to the BinaryStream.

    public static class BinaryReaderExtension
    {

        public static String ReadLine(this BinaryReader reader)
        {
            var result = new StringBuilder();
            bool foundEndOfLine = false;
            char ch;
            while (!foundEndOfLine)
            {
                try
                {
                    ch = reader.ReadChar();
                }
                catch (EndOfStreamException ex)
                {
                    if (result.Length == 0) return null;
                    else break;
                }
                
                switch (ch)
                {
                    case '\r':
                        if (reader.PeekChar() == '\n') reader.ReadChar();
                        foundEndOfLine = true;
                        break;
                    case '\n':
                        foundEndOfLine = true;
                        break;
                    default:
                        result.Append(ch);
                        break;
                }
            }
            return result.ToString();
        }
    }

Points of Interest

The code follows the same pattern than the StreamReader.ReadLine:

History

2015-06-01 First vesion