Category Archives: Extensions

Object to CSV extension

Here is a nice little extension that will take an object and convert it into a CSV file.

Also has the option if you want to include a header on the CSV file.

public static class ObjectToCsv
 {
 public static string ToCsv<T>(this IEnumerable<T> items, bool includeHeading = true)
 where T : class
 {
 var csvBuilder = new StringBuilder();
 var properties = typeof(T).GetProperties();

 if (includeHeading)
 {
 csvBuilder.AppendLine(string.Join(",", properties.Select(p => p.Name.ToCsvValue()).ToArray()));
 }

 foreach (var item in items)
 {
 var line = string.Join(",", properties.Select(p => p.GetValue(item, null).ToCsvValue()).ToArray());
 csvBuilder.AppendLine(line);
 }
 return csvBuilder.ToString();
 }

 private static string ToCsvValue<T>(this T item)
 {
 if (item == null) return "\"\"";

 if (item is string)
 {
 return $"\"{item.ToString().Replace("\"", "\\\"")}\"";
 }
 double dummy;
 return double.TryParse(item.ToString(), out dummy) ? $"{item}" : $"\"{item}\"";
 }
 }