c# - Combine multiple files into single file

Question

Code:

static void MultipleFilesToSingleFile(string dirPath, string filePattern, string destFile)
{
    string[] fileAry = Directory.GetFiles(dirPath, filePattern);

    Console.WriteLine("Total File Count : " + fileAry.Length);

    using (TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(destFile, true))
    {
        foreach (string filePath in fileAry)
        {
            using (TextReader tr = new StreamReader(filePath))
            {
                tw.WriteLine(tr.ReadToEnd());
                tr.Close();
                tr.Dispose();
            }
            Console.WriteLine("File Processed : " + filePath);
        }

        tw.Close();
        tw.Dispose();
    }
}

I need to optimize this as its extremely slow: takes 3 minutes for 45 files of average size 40 — 50 Mb XML file.

Please note: 45 files of an average 45 MB is just one example, it can be n numbers of files of m size, where n is in thousands & m can be of average 128 Kb. In short, it can vary.

Could you please provide any views on optimization?

Answer 1

General answer

Why not just use the Stream.CopyTo(Stream destination) method?

private static void CombineMultipleFilesIntoSingleFile(string inputDirectoryPath, string inputFileNamePattern, string outputFilePath)
{
    string[] inputFilePaths = Directory.GetFiles(inputDirectoryPath, inputFileNamePattern);
    Console.WriteLine("Number of files: {0}.", inputFilePaths.Length);
    using (var outputStream = File.Create(outputFilePath))
    {
        foreach (var inputFilePath in inputFilePaths)
        {
            using (var inputStream = File.OpenRead(inputFilePath))
            {
                // Buffer size can be passed as the second argument.
                inputStream.CopyTo(outputStream);
            }
            Console.WriteLine("The file {0} has been processed.", inputFilePath);
        }
    }
}

Buffer size adjustment

Please, note that the mentioned method is overloaded.

There are two method overloads:

1. CopyTo(Stream destination).
2. CopyTo(Stream destination, int bufferSize).

The second method overload provides the buffer size adjustment through the bufferSize parameter.