title: Pull separate columns from .csv into separate arrays in c#
body: <p>Background on this project. It started as a simple homework assignment that required me to store 5 zip codes and their corresponding cities. When a user puts a Zip code in a textbox, a corresponding city is returned, and likewise the opposite can be done. I wrote the code to return these values, but then I decided I wanted to store ALL zip codes and their corresponding Cities in an external .csv, and store those values in arrays and run the code off that because if its worth doing, its worth overdoing! To clarify, this is no longer for homework, just to learn more about using external files in C#. </p>
  
  <p>In the following code, I have called to open the file successfully, now I just need help in figuring out how to pull the data that is stored in two separate columns (one for city, one for zip code) and store them in two arrays to be acted upon by the for loop. Here is the code I have now. You can see how I have previously stored the other values in arrays and pulled them out:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public partial class Form1 : Form
  {
      public Form1()
      {
          InitializeComponent();
      }
  
      private void btnConvert2City_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
      {
          try
          {
              string dir = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(
                  System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
  
              string path = dir + @"\zip_code_database_edited.csv";
              var open = new StreamReader(File.OpenRead(path));
  
              int EnteredZipcode = Convert.ToInt32(txtZipcode.Text.Trim());
              string result = "No Cities Found";
  
              string[] Cities = new String[5] { "FLINTSTONE", "JAMAICA", "SCHENECTADY", "COTTONDALE", "CINCINNATI" };
              int[] Zipcode = new int[5] { 30725, 11432, 12345, 35453, 45263 };
  
              for (int i = 0; i &lt;= Zipcode.Length - 1; i++)
              {
                  if (Zipcode[i] == EnteredZipcode)
                  {
                      result = Cities[i];
                      break;
                  }
              }
              string DisplayState = result;
              txtCity.Text = DisplayState;
          }
          catch (FormatException)
          {
              MessageBox.Show("Input must be numeric value.");
          }
          catch (OverflowException)
          {
              MessageBox.Show("Zipcode to long. Please Re-enter");
          }
      }
  
      private void btnConvert2Zipcode_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
      {
          string dir = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(
                  System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
  
          string path = dir + @"\zip_code_database_edited.csv";
          var open = new StreamReader(File.OpenRead(path));
  
          String EnteredCity = txtCity.Text.ToUpper();
          string result = "No Zipcode Found";
  
          string[] Cities = new String[5] { "FLINTSTONE", "JAMAICA", "SCHENECTADY", "COTTONDALE", "CINCINNATI" };
          int[] Zipcode = new int[5] { 30725, 11432, 12345, 35453, 45263 };
  
          for (int i = 0; i &lt;= Cities.Length - 1; i++)
          {
              if (Cities[i] == EnteredCity)
              {
                  result = Convert.ToString(Zipcode[i]);
                  break;
              }
          }           
          string DisplayZip = result;
          txtZipcode.Text = DisplayZip;
      }       
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The following data is a snippet of what the data in my excel .csv looks like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>zip,primary_city
  44273,Seville
  44274,Sharon Center
  44275,Spencer
  44276,Sterling
  44278,Tallmadge
  44280,Valley City
  44281,Wadsworth
  44282,Wadsworth
  44285,Wayland
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And so on for about 46,000 rows. </p>
  
  <p>How can I pull the zip and the primary_city into two separate arrays (I'm guessing with some ".Split "," "line) that my for-loop can operate on?</p>
  
  <p>Also, if there are better ways to go about this, please let me know (but be sure to leave an explanation as I want to understand where you are coming from).</p>