Looping to initialize multiple StreamWriters

Question

I want to do something like the following:

int loopCount = 0;
while (loopCount != 18)
{
    StreamWriter DBSplit + loopCount = 
    new StreamWriter(@"L:\BananaDB\DBFILE" + loopCount + ".txt");
    loopCount++;
}

What is the best way to do this? At the moment the problem is "DBSplit + loopCount". While yes it is because I'm trying to add an int to the StreamWriter variable, I cannot use string either. Is there any solution?

As ever, if you want multiple variables indexed by number, use an array or a list. (If you want multiple variables indexed by name, use a `Dictionary` instead.) There's nothing specific about `StreamWriter` here - other than the fact that you'll need to be careful to dispose of everything. — Jon Skeet, Jul 11 '14 at 07:20
IMO, This sounds like a design flaw (saving what I guess is the same data in 18 different places?) and a liability to make sure that the streams are closed correctly — Sayse, Jul 11 '14 at 07:24
No, it's not a design flaw. I need to split a large file in to 18 smaller ones. — Mitchell, Jul 11 '14 at 07:26
I still dont see why all 18 streams need to be open at once. — Sayse, Jul 11 '14 at 07:31
My program is reading line by line from a very large file, depending on what information is on that line, it will be written to a particular file. That is why. — Mitchell, Jul 11 '14 at 07:34
Can someone explain to me why my question deserves -2? What is wrong with it? — Mitchell, Jul 11 '14 at 07:35

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 11 '14 at 07:20

3

Use an array ? Also you can replace while with a for loop:

var writers = new StreamWriter[18];

for(int i =0; i<18; i++)
    writers[i] = new StreamWriter(@"L:\BananaDB\DBFILE" + i + ".txt");

answered Jul 11 '14 at 07:20

Selman Genç

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Thanks, very suitable solution. – Mitchell Jul 11 '14 at 07:23
Don't forget to call Dispose()/Close() on each one when you're done with them. Or wrap each one you use in using(){} block, if possible. – user3613916 Jul 11 '14 at 07:28

Looping to initialize multiple StreamWriters

1 Answers1