NitroTextFieldParser

NitroTextFieldParser

Overview

The NitroTextFieldParser is a blazing-fast .NET library for parsing delimited or fixed-width text files. Built for high performance, it minimizes memory usage by leveraging ReadOnlyMemory<char> and supports advanced features such as quoted field handling. Whether you're processing CSVs or custom delimited files, NitroTextFieldParser provides robust and efficient parsing.

Benchmark Results

The NitroTextFieldParser outperforms the built-in TextFieldParser in terms of speed and memory usage. The following benchmark results demonstrate the performance benefits of using the NitroTextFieldParser when processing 1000Rows x 9Columns CSV data:

Method	Mean	Error	StdDev	Rank	Gen0	Gen1	Gen2	Allocated
NitroTextFieldParser	1.663 ms	0.0187 ms	0.0175 ms	1	306.6406	134.7656	-	1.35 MB
OldTextFieldParser	9.543 ms	0.1640 ms	0.1534 ms	2	3343.7500	421.8750	15.6250	12.51 MB

Release Notes 1.1.0v

• New Feature: Added schema validation support for parsing fields with precise data structures. Users can now define custom patterns and types for fields, enabling automated detection of malformed data.

Features

• High Performance: Minimal memory footprint with direct memory access.
• Flexible Delimiters: Supports single or multiple custom delimiters.
• Quoted Field Handling: Handles fields enclosed in quotes with support for escaped quotes.
• Stream-Based: Reads data directly from any Stream, suitable for large files.
• Encoding Support: Works with any character encoding.
• Schema Validation: Define custom patterns and types for fields to validate data structures.*

Installation

Include the NitroTextFieldParser class in your .NET project or package it into a shared library.

Usage

1. Initialize the Parser

Create an instance of the parser with your data stream.

using NitroTextFieldParser;

using (var stream = File.OpenRead("data.csv"))
using (var parser = new TextFieldParser(stream))
{
    parser.SetDelimiters(","); // Set the delimiter for parsing
    parser.HasFieldsEnclosedInQuotes = true; // Enable quote handling
}

2. Set Delimiters

Define the delimiters used to separate fields:

parser.SetDelimiters(",", "\t"); // Supports multiple delimiters

3. Parse Data'

Read and parse fields line by line:

while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
    var fields = parser.ReadFields(); // Returns ReadOnlyMemory<char>[] for efficient access
    foreach (var field in fields)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(field.ToString()); // Convert to string for display
    }
}

4. Handle Quoted Fields

Enable quote handling for fields:

parser.HasFieldsEnclosedInQuotes = true; // Enable quote handling

Example Input:

"Name","Age","City"
"Alice, Bob","30","New York"

Output:

Row 1:

• Name
• Age
• City

Row 2:

• Alice, Bob
• 30
• New York

Custom Encoding

Specify a custom character encoding:

using (var parser = new TextFieldParser(stream, Encoding.UTF8))
{
    // Custom encoding setup
}

Stream Control

Keep the stream open after parsing:

var parser = new TextFieldParser(stream, Encoding.UTF8, true, true);

Read Full Content

Read the entire file content at once:

var content = parser.ReadToEnd();

Example Input and Output

Input File (data.csv):

"ID","Name","Email"
1,"John Doe","[e-mail]"
2,"Jane Smith","[e-mail]"

Output:

Row 1:

• ID
• Name
• Email

Row 2:

• 1
• John Doe
• [e-mail]

Row 3:

• 2
• Jane Smith
• [e-mail]

Why Use NitroTextFieldParser?

• Efficient memory usage for handling large files.
• Flexible support for custom delimiters and quoted fields.
• Easy to integrate into any .NET project.

License

This software is dual-licensed:

• Custom Open Source License You may use this software under the terms of this Custom Open Source License.

• Commercial License For commercial use, a separate license is required. Please contact [e-mail] for details.

Custom Open Source License:

Copyright (c) [2025] [Christiaan Bekker/Stikie123]

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to use, copy, modify, merge, and distribute the Software, subject to the following conditions:

• The Software may be used freely in:

  • Open-source projects that are free and publicly available.
  • Personal projects or non-commercial educational purposes.

• For any commercial use, including but not limited to using the Software in paid products, services, or proprietary projects, the user must obtain a separate commercial license from [Christiaan Bekker/Stikie123]. Please contact [[e-mail]] to arrange licensing terms.

• Credit must be given to [Christiaan Bekker/Stikie123] in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. This includes clear attribution in the documentation, source code, or any materials distributed with the Software.

• Any modifications made to the Software must:

  • Be clearly documented.
  • Be made available to the public under the same terms as this license unless explicit written permission is granted by [Christiaan Bekker/Stikie123].

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES, OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Commercial License Text:

For commercial use, please acquire a license by contacting [[e-mail]].