Typing filepath as a string in c#

Question

I'm writing the following code to read in a file from the filepath given (Using VS2010 & C#):

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string temp;
        string path = "C:\Windows\Temp\fmfozdom.5hn.rdl";
        using(FileStream stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open))
        {
            StreamReader r = new StreamReader(stream);
            temp = r.ReadToEnd();
        }

        Console.WriteLine(temp);
    }

The compiler is complaining about the following line:

string path = "C:\Windows\Temp\fmfozdom.5hn.rdl";

It gives the message: Unrecognised escape sequence at \W and \T

What am I doing incorrectly?

Oded · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-13 14:02:14Z

15

You can use a verbatim string literal:

string path = @"C:\Windows\Temp\fmfozdom.5hn.rdl";

Either that, or escape the \ character:

string path = "C:\\Windows\\Temp\\fmfozdom.5hn.rdl";

The problem with your current code is that the \ is the escape sequence in the string and \W, \T are unknown escapes.

answered Jan 13, 2012 at 14:02

Oded

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Dot NET · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-13 14:02:34Z

3

Change it to:

string path = "C:\\Windows\\Temp\\fmfozdom.5hn.rdl";

The reason is that it's interpreting the 'W' and 'T' as escape characters since you only used one '\'.

answered Jan 13, 2012 at 14:02

Dot NET

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Fraser · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-13 14:23:35Z

1

You can also use a forward slash in windows for this. This would remove the need for escaping the backslash.

answered Jan 13, 2012 at 14:23

Fraser

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