What is the use of the System.IO namespace in .NET?

The System.IO namespace in .NET provides types that allow reading and writing to files and data streams, as well as types that provide basic file and directory support. It is essential for handling input and output operations. Here are some key uses and classes within the System.IO namespace:

• File and Directory Operations:

  • File: Provides static methods for creating, copying, deleting, moving, and opening files, and helps in the creation of FileStream objects.

  • Directory: Provides static methods for creating, moving, and enumerating through directories and subdirectories.

  • FileInfo and DirectoryInfo: Provide instance methods for the same operations as the File and Directory classes, but allow for more object-oriented access.

• File and Stream I/O:

  • FileStream: Provides a stream for file operations, supporting both synchronous and asynchronous read and write operations.

  • StreamReader and StreamWriter: Simplify reading from and writing to streams and files with text.

  • BinaryReader and BinaryWriter: Read and write primitive data types as binary values in a specific encoding.

  • MemoryStream: Creates a stream whose backing store is memory, useful for temporary storage and manipulation of data as an array of bytes.

  • BufferedStream: Provides a temporary storage for a stream of bytes that may improve the performance of read and write operations.

• Path Manipulation:

  • Path: Performs operations on String instances that contain file or directory path information. These operations are performed in a cross-platform manner.

• Asynchronous I/O:

  • Classes like FileStream, StreamReader, StreamWriter, and others provide asynchronous methods (ReadAsync, WriteAsync, etc.) to improve the performance and responsiveness of applications.

• Compression:

  • The System.IO.Compression namespace extends System.IO with classes for compressing and decompressing streams, such as GZipStream and DeflateStream.

• Pipes:

  • The System.IO.Pipes namespace provides classes for inter-process communication through anonymous and named pipes, such as NamedPipeServerStream and NamedPipeClientStream.

Example usage of reading a text file using StreamReader:

In this example, the StreamReader class is used to read a text file line by line and print each line to the console. The using statement ensures that the StreamReader is properly disposed of after use.