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How to: Parse a String

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This topic shows how to parse a string to create an XML tree in C# and in Visual Basic.  

Example

The following C# code shows how to parse a string.

XElement contacts = XElement.Parse(
    @"<Contacts>
        <Contact>
            <Name>Patrick Hines</Name>
            <Phone Type=""home"">206-555-0144</Phone>
            <Phone type=""work"">425-555-0145</Phone>
            <Address>
            <Street1>123 Main St</Street1>
            <City>Mercer Island</City>
            <State>WA</State>
            <Postal>68042</Postal>
            </Address>
            <NetWorth>10</NetWorth>
        </Contact>
        <Contact>
            <Name>Gretchen Rivas</Name>
            <Phone Type=""mobile"">206-555-0163</Phone>
            <Address>
            <Street1>123 Main St</Street1>
            <City>Mercer Island</City>
            <State>WA</State>
            <Postal>68042</Postal>
            </Address>
            <NetWorth>11</NetWorth>
        </Contact>
    </Contacts>");
Console.WriteLine(contacts);

You can parse a string in Visual Basic in a similar manner. However, it is more efficient to use XML literals, as shown in following code, because XML literals do not suffer from the same performance penalties as parsing XML from a string.

By using XML literals, you can just copy and paste your XML into your Visual Basic program.

Note

  Parsing text or loading an XML document from a text file is less efficient than functional construction. If you are initializing an XML tree from code, it takes less processor time to use functional construction than to parse text.

Dim contacts as XElement = _
    <Contacts>
        <Contact>
            <Name>Patrick Hines</Name>
            <Phone Type="home">206-555-0144</Phone>
            <Phone Type="work">425-555-0145</Phone>
            <Address>
            <Street1>123 Main St</Street1>
            <City>Mercer Island</City>
            <State>WA</State>
            <Postal>68042</Postal>
            </Address>
            <NetWorth>10</NetWorth>
        </Contact>
        <Contact>
            <Name>Gretchen Rivas</Name>
            <Phone Type="mobile">206-555-0163</Phone>
            <Address>
            <Street1>123 Main St</Street1>
            <City>Mercer Island</City>
            <State>WA</State>
            <Postal>68042</Postal>
            </Address>
            <NetWorth>11</NetWorth>
        </Contact>
    </Contacts>

See Also

Concepts

Parsing XML