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I want to calculate the instance of * in the text file....

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asked how to count '' in a text file and pointed toward reading the file and tallying matches. Below are two concise, practical VB.NET options: one for small files (simple and quick) and a buffered streaming version for very large files. Both handle typical errors and use the correct Char literal (`""c`).

' Simple - reads entire file (good for small/medium files)
Imports System.Linq

Dim path As String = "C:\path\to\file.txt"
Try
    Dim text As String = IO.File.ReadAllText(path)
    Dim starCount As Integer = text.Count(Function(ch) ch = "*"c)
    Console.WriteLine("Found " & starCount & " '*' characters.")
Catch ex As Exception
    Console.WriteLine("Error: " & ex.Message)
End Try
' Buffered streaming - safe for very large files (low memory)
Dim path As String = "C:\path\to\file.txt"
Dim total As Long = 0

Using sr As New IO.StreamReader(path)
    Dim buffer(8191) As Char
    Dim read As Integer = sr.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
    While read > 0
        For i As Integer = 0 To read - 1
            If buffer(i) = "*"c Then total += 1
        Next
        read = sr.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
    End While
End Using

Console.WriteLine("Found " & total & " '*' characters.")

Notes and troubleshooting: prefer the streaming method when files approach available memory limits. Use Long for counters if extremely large files are expected. The '*' character is U+002A, so matching "*"c works across common encodings; if a non-text (binary) file is being processed, consider reading bytes and comparing to &H2A. Common zero-count causes are wrong path, missing read permissions, or the file using a different encoding/character (inspect the raw bytes if results look wrong). Exceptions such as FileNotFoundException and UnauthorizedAccessException should be handled as shown.

Member Avatar for samsylvestertty

You may read the file char by char and increment a counter if the symbol '*' is encountered

Or read all the lines and store in a string and then use any string operation to do the same

Can't post any codes as I don't have any "hands - on" experience on VB.net

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