How can I parse a csv file and fit it to an existing table in C#?

Okay, so right now I have a parseCSV function that returns a table to me in 2D format like so:

List<string[]> data = parseCSVFle(file);

Now, I'd like the rows in 'data' to be arranged in a particular order. This order is determined by the first column in temp (i.e. first element of the string array). The order is maintained in a string array elsewhere.

String[] dogs = {"rottweiler", "germanshepherd", "dalmatian"};

How do I rearrange 'data' to reflect the order in 'dogs'?

Additional constraints include

• The string in 'dogs' may be a substring of the string in 'data'. In this case, the string from 'dogs' is displayed.
• The string in 'dogs' may not be present in 'data' at all. In this case, the string from 'dogs' is added to the 2D table but with blanks 开发者_StackOverflowin the other columns.

Example data

data_initial

dalmatian 45 52 rottweiler 58

data_final

rottweiler 58 - germanshepherd - - dalmatian 45 52

Thanks for looking, all.

If I understand you correctly you want to sort the content of the rows by their header entry, which is one of the dogs - in that case a custom sort comparer would do the trick.

static string[] dogs = {"rottweiler", "germanshepherd", "dalmatian"};

public static int CompareRows(string[] row1, string[] row2)
{
    int idx1 = Array.IndexOf(dogs,row1[0]);
    int idx2 = Array.IndexOf(dogs,row2[0]);

    if(idx1 == idx2)
        return 0;
    else return (idx1 < idx2) ? -1 : 1;
}

public static void testArraySort()
{
    string [] data1 = { "germanshepherd", "rufus", "george"};
    string[] data2 = { "dalmatian", "mimi", "dalma" };
    string[] data3 = { "rottweiler", "fifi", "dawg" };

    List<string[]> data = new List<string[]>() { data1, data2, data3 };
    data.Sort(CompareRows);
}