# MarcosMeli/FileHelpers

The FileHelpers are a free and easy to use .NET library to read/write data from fixed length or delimited records in files, strings or streams

Repository: https://github.com/MarcosMeli/FileHelpers
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/filehelpers
Homepage: https://www.filehelpers.net
Language: C#
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: csv, csv-parser, csv-files, csv-reader, flat-file, dotnet, c-sharp
Last push: 2023-06-07T23:40:59+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5133, "days_push": 1183, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1153, forks 344 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:47.312602+00:00)

## What it is
FileHelpers is a free, MIT-licensed .NET library for reading and writing strongly typed records from fixed-length or delimited flat files, strings, and streams. Records are mapped via annotated C# classes, with support for converters, error handling, events, sorting of large files, and master-detail processing.

## Use cases
- parse csv files into strongly typed c# objects
- read fixed length flat files like cobol output
- write delimited or fixed-width text files from .NET objects
- convert between file formats such as fixed length to csv
- import flat file data into a data warehouse or etl pipeline
- parse log files with a defined record layout
- sort large flat files in .NET

## When to choose
- you are on .NET/.NET Standard and need typed, attribute-based mapping of flat file records
- you need both delimited and fixed-length record support with converters and error handling
- you want a mature, free library for flat file import/export without heavy dependencies

## When to avoid
- you need Excel/Access/SqlServer storage on .NET Core - those features are not ported to .NET Standard
- you need dynamic runtime class building (ClassBuilder, SmartFormatDetector) on .NET Core
- you need a general-purpose CSV library with non-.NET platforms

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: parser, serialization, csv, file-system, etl
- domain: files, developer-tools, spreadsheets
- platform: dotnet, cross-platform, windows
- tags: flat-files, fixed-length-records, delimited-files, record-mapping, strongly-typed, net-standard, data-engineering, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- MarcosMeli/FileHelpers (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:47.312602+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:33:25.615518+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/MarcosMeli/FileHelpers (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:47.312602+00:00, sha 820246189a14)
  - homepage: https://www.filehelpers.net (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.355375+00:00, sha 89fb93390d03)
  - site_page: https://www.filehelpers.net/quickstart (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.364655+00:00, sha 4246217029b6)
  - site_page: https://www.filehelpers.net/example/QuickStart/ReadFileDelimited (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.366711+00:00, sha 998dcd9f87d8)
  - site_page: https://www.filehelpers.net/example/QuickStart/WriteFileDelimited (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.368833+00:00, sha b4a202e9b081)
  - site_page: https://www.filehelpers.net/example/QuickStart/ReadFileFixed (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.370819+00:00, sha c26d1c310ae4)
  - site_page: https://www.filehelpers.net/example/QuickStart/WriteFileFixed (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.372629+00:00, sha edbfa31b36de)
  - site_page: https://www.filehelpers.net/example/QuickStart/ReadWriteRecordByRecord (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.374437+00:00, sha 5e78ef60e93f)
  - site_page: https://www.filehelpers.net/example/QuickStart/Autoproperties (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.376086+00:00, sha 5abcffa1f03f)
  - site_page: https://www.filehelpers.net/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:38:04.377694+00:00, sha 9bdae8487d29)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.