Dim Separators() as Char = {"!"c} Dim Words() as String Words = YourFileString.Split(Separators) Dim Word as String For Each Word in Words NextBut.. realy I start with .net with same task like you have. I using oleDBConnection over Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;. If you have text delimited files in correct format (columns,rows) - then its the best way to access file and convert it to the DataTable, then.. using common ADO.net methods you can work with this DataTable..