XmlTextReader.ReadString Method

Definition

Reads the contents of an element or a text node as a string.

public override string ReadString();

Returns

The contents of the element or text node. This can be an empty string if the reader is positioned on something other than an element or text node, or if there is no more text content to return in the current context.

Note: The text node can be either an element or an attribute text node.

Exceptions

An error occurred while parsing the XML.

An invalid operation was attempted.

Examples

The following example displays the text content of each element.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

public class Sample
{
  public static void Main()
  {
    XmlTextReader reader = null;

    try
    {
       //Load the reader with the XML file.
       reader = new XmlTextReader("elems.xml");

       //Parse the XML and display the text content of each of the elements.
       while (reader.Read()){
         if (reader.IsStartElement()){
           if (reader.IsEmptyElement)
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("<{0}/>", reader.Name);
                    }
                    else
                    {
               Console.Write("<{0}> ", reader.Name);
               reader.Read(); //Read the start tag.
               if (reader.IsStartElement())  //Handle nested elements.
                 Console.Write("\r\n<{0}>", reader.Name);
               Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadString());  //Read the text content of the element.
           }
         }
       }
     }

     finally
     {
        if (reader != null)
          reader.Close();
      }
  }
} // End class

The example uses the file, elems.xml, as input.


<book>
  <title>Pride And Prejudice</title>
  <price>19.95</price>
  <misc/>
</book>

Remarks

Note

Starting with the .NET Framework 2.0, we recommend that you create XmlReader instances by using the XmlReader.Create method to take advantage of new functionality.

If positioned on an element, ReadString concatenates all text, significant white space, white space, and CData section node types together and returns the concatenated data as the element content. It stops when any markup is encountered, including comments and processing instructions. This could occur in a mixed content model, or when an element end tag is read.

If positioned on a text node, ReadString performs the same concatenation from the text node to the element end tag. If the reader is positioned on an attribute text node, ReadString has the same functionality as if the reader were position on the element start tag. It returns all the concatenated element text nodes.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
.NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 2.0, 2.1

See also