C# spliting a String from Readline

Hi, Im trying read in data from textfile into seperate string variables using a StreamWriter. I used readLine() to store each line, and substring to split into seperate fields. It works ok for the first line but I am having a problem with the 2nd line because one of variables is a different length and I am unsure how to solve this. After opening the file, my for loop does the following: for (; ; ) { buffer = Convert.ToString(sr.ReadLine()); if (buffer == null) break; tempitemnumber = buffer.Substring(0, 6); i = tempitemnumber.Length; tempcode = buffer.Substring(i, 4); i += tempcode.Length; tempdescription = buffer.Substring(i, 18); i += tempdescription.Length; tempprice = buffer.Substring(i, 7); i += tempprice.Length; tempunit = buffer.Substring(i, 3); i += tempunit.Length; tempcost = buffer.Substring(i, 6); i += tempcost.Length; tempCF = buffer.Substring(i, 4); i += tempCF.Length; tempgroup = buffer.Substring(i, 6); i += tempgroup.Length; tempsortcode = buffer.Substring(i, 7); i += tempsortcode.Length; tempbuyingterm = buffer.Substring(i, 3); //debugs to show what was input into the variables wr.Write(tempitemnumber); wr.Write(tempcode); wr.Write(tempdescription); wr.Write(tempprice); wr.Write(tempunit); wr.Write(tempcost); wr.Write(tempCF); wr.Write(tempgroup); wr.Write(tempsortcode); wr.Write(tempbuyingterm); wr.Write(wr.NewLine); } I have also noticed when I do a subtring it captures the "/t" tab characters from the textfile. Is there an easier way of reading data seperately from textfiles? I've only just started familiarising must with C#, I am used to programming in C or C++, so it like a new world to me! Substring is only method I have found that works. Is it not possible to use .Read() or .ReadBlock() instead of Readline(). Please could you recommend a simplier way for read/writing text files. Lol I think I I should buy a C# book after Christmas, I have wasted a lot of time on google and getting nowhere fast heh. Thanks Andrew