How do I generate a stream from a string?

I need to write a unit test for a method that takes a stream which comes from a text file. I would like to do do something like this:

Stream s = GenerateStreamFromString("a,b \n c,d");

public static Stream GenerateStreamFromString(string s)
{
    var stream = new MemoryStream();
    var writer = new StreamWriter(stream);
    writer.Write(s);
    writer.Flush();
    stream.Position = 0;
    return stream;
}

Don't forget to use Using:

using (var stream = GenerateStreamFromString("a,b \n c,d"))
{
    // ... Do stuff to stream
}

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About the StreamWriter not being disposed. StreamWriter is just a wrapper around the base stream, and doesn't use any resources that need to be disposed. The Dispose method will close the underlying Stream that StreamWriter is writing to. In this case that is the MemoryStream we want to return.

In .NET 4.5 there is now an overload for StreamWriter that keeps the underlying stream open after the writer is disposed of, but this code does the same thing and works with other versions of .NET too.

See Is there any way to close a StreamWriter without closing its BaseStream?

Another solution:

public static MemoryStream GenerateStreamFromString(string value)
{
    return new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(value ?? ""));
}

Add this to a static string utility class:

public static Stream ToStream(this string str)
{
	MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
	StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(stream);
	writer.Write(str);
	writer.Flush();
	stream.Position = 0;
	return stream;
}

This adds an extension function so you can simply:

using (var stringStream = "My string".ToStream())
{
    // use stringStream
}

public Stream GenerateStreamFromString(string s)
{
    return new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(s));
}

Modernized and slightly modified version of the extension methods for ToStream:

public static Stream ToStream(this string value) => ToStream(value, Encoding.UTF8);

public static Stream ToStream(this string value, Encoding encoding) 
                          => new MemoryStream(encoding.GetBytes(value ?? string.Empty));

---

Modification as suggested in @Palec's comment of @Shaun Bowe answer.

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Or as a one-liner (suggested by @satnhak):

public static Stream ToStream(this string value, Encoding encoding = null) 
    => new MemoryStream((encoding ?? Encoding.UTF8).GetBytes(value ?? string.Empty));

I used a mix of answers like this:

public static Stream ToStream(this string str, Encoding enc = null)
{
    enc = enc ?? Encoding.UTF8;
    return new MemoryStream(enc.GetBytes(str ?? ""));
}

And then I use it like this:

String someStr="This is a Test";
Encoding enc = getEncodingFromSomeWhere();
using (Stream stream = someStr.ToStream(enc))
{
    // Do something with the stream....
}

Use the MemoryStream class, calling Encoding.GetBytes to turn your string into an array of bytes first.

Do you subsequently need a TextReader on the stream? If so, you could supply a StringReader directly, and bypass the MemoryStream and Encoding steps.

We use the extension methods listed below. I think you should make the developer make a decision about the encoding, so there is less magic involved.

public static class StringExtensions {

    public static Stream ToStream(this string s) {
        return s.ToStream(Encoding.UTF8);
    }

    public static Stream ToStream(this string s, Encoding encoding) {
        return new MemoryStream(encoding.GetBytes(s ?? ""));
    }
}

If you need to change the encoding I vote for @ShaunBowe's solution. But every answer here copies the whole string in memory at least once. The answers with ToCharArray + BlockCopy combo do it twice.

If that matters here is a simple Stream wrapper for the raw UTF-16 string. If used with a StreamReader select Encoding.Unicode for it:

public class StringStream : Stream
{
    private readonly string str;

    public override bool CanRead => true;
    public override bool CanSeek => true;
    public override bool CanWrite => false;
    public override long Length => str.Length * 2;
    public override long Position { get; set; } // TODO: bounds check

    public StringStream(string s) => str = s ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(s));

    public override long Seek(long offset, SeekOrigin origin)
    {
        switch (origin)
        {
            case SeekOrigin.Begin:
                Position = offset;
                break;
            case SeekOrigin.Current:
                Position += offset;
                break;
            case SeekOrigin.End:
                Position = Length - offset;
                break;
        }

        return Position;
    }

    private byte this[int i] => (i & 1) == 0 ? (byte)(str[i / 2] & 0xFF) : (byte)(str[i / 2] >> 8);

    public override int Read(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count)
    {
        // TODO: bounds check
        var len = Math.Min(count, Length - Position);
        for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
            buffer[offset++] = this[(int)(Position++)];
        return (int)len;
    }

    public override int ReadByte() => Position >= Length ? -1 : this[(int)Position++];
    public override void Flush() { }
    public override void SetLength(long value) => throw new NotSupportedException();
    public override void Write(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) => throw new NotSupportedException();
    public override string ToString() => str; // ;)		
}

And here is a more complete solution with necessary bound checks (derived from MemoryStream so it has ToArray and WriteTo methods as well).

Here you go:

private Stream GenerateStreamFromString(String p)
{
    Byte[] bytes = UTF8Encoding.GetBytes(p);
    MemoryStream strm = new MemoryStream();
    strm.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
    return strm;
}

I think you can benefit from using a MemoryStream. You can fill it with the string bytes that you obtain by using the GetBytes method of the Encoding class.

A good combination of String extensions:

public static byte[] GetBytes(this string str)
{
    byte[] bytes = new byte[str.Length * sizeof(char)];
    System.Buffer.BlockCopy(str.ToCharArray(), 0, bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
    return bytes;
}

public static Stream ToStream(this string str)
{
    Stream StringStream = new MemoryStream();
    StringStream.Read(str.GetBytes(), 0, str.Length);
    return StringStream;
}