How to create a csv file from List<String[]>

Question

Can anyone help me to create a csv file from List, my scenario is, i have a multi dimensional values like below in a List

List<string[]> lst = new List<string[]>();
lst= csv1.ToList();

lst contains the values like,

lst[0] = {string[53]}
lst[1] = {string[53]}
lst[2] = {string[53]}
lst[3] = {string[53]}
lst[4] = {string[53]}

and string[53] contains the values like

lst[0]
 string[0] = "abc"
 string[1] = "def"
 string[2] = "ghi"
 string[3] = "jkl"
 string[4] = "mno"
 ...
lst[1]
 string[0] = "123"
 string[1] = "456"
 string[2] = "789"
 string[3] = "10"
 string[4] = "11"
 ...

I just wanted to write this multi-dimensional list to csv file as each item in lst[] to rows in csv and each item in string[] to columns such that the final output in my csv is

abc,def,ghi,jkl,mno
123,456,789,10,11

Any help would be really appreciated.

• Gnanasekaran Kuppusamy: I tried like this, String csv = String.Join(",", lst.Select(x => x.ToString()).ToArray()); but i was not getting the output.

Answer 1

At the simplest level, not handling quoting / escaping / multi-line CSV issues, then just loop; maybe something like:

 using (var file = File.CreateText(path))
 {
 foreach(var arr in lst)
 {
 file.WriteLine(string.Join(",", arr));
 }
 }

or a tiny bit more efficient (no intermediary string):

 using (var file = File.CreateText(path))
 {
 foreach (var arr in lst)
 {
 if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(arr)) continue;
 file.Write(arr[0]);
 for(int i = 1 ; i < arr.Length ; i++)
 {
 file.Write(',');
 file.Write(arr[i]);
 }
 file.WriteLine();
 }
 }

• Matthew Whited: Your second example is going to add an extra comma at the on each record

Answer 2

use linq:

File.WriteAllLines("text.txt", lst.Select(x => string.Join(",", x)));

• jeffkenn: I am trying to do this will a "|" delimiter, and keeps producing a comma separated file, any idea as to why?
• TheEmirOfGroofunkistan: @jeffkenn in the string.Join() change the "," to "|"