Append text to file

I have a directory full of hundreds of text files. I need to loop through each of them, writing (appending) their contents to a single file.

This code is overwriting the target file with each new file the StreamReader opens. How do I append the text to the bottom of the target file instead of overwriting it?

static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var sourceDirectory = @"C:\target\new\";
            var txtFiles = Directory.EnumerateFiles(sourceDirectory, "*.txt");

            foreach (string currentFile in txtFiles)
            {
                StreamReader exportedfiles = new StreamReader(currentFile, System.Text.Encoding.Default);

                using (FileStream readStream = File.OpenRead(currentFile))

                //Specify path for the combined file that will be created.
                using (FileStream writeStream = File.OpenWrite("C:\\file.txt"))
                {
                    BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(readStream);
                    BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(writeStream);

                    byte[] buffer = new byte[10240]; //Equals a 10mb buffer.
                    int bytesRead;

                    while ((bytesRead = readStream.Read(buffer, 0, 10240)) > 0)
                    {
                        writeStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
                    }
                }
            }

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Last Comment

Olaf Doschke

8/22/2022 - Mon

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

it_saige

7/14/2016

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AndyAinscow

7/14/2016

You run the following line for each file:
using (FileStream writeStream = File.OpenWrite("C:\\file.txt"))
which means you destroy it and recreate it for each file.

You need to re-organise the two loops (Not certain if I did the moving of lines - there might be a problem with closing braces but you get the idea)

static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var sourceDirectory = @"C:\target\new\";
            var txtFiles = Directory.EnumerateFiles(sourceDirectory, "*.txt");

                //Specify path for the combined file that will be created.
                using (FileStream writeStream = File.OpenWrite("C:\\file.txt"))
                {
                    BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(writeStream);

            foreach (string currentFile in txtFiles)
            {
                StreamReader exportedfiles = new StreamReader(currentFile, System.Text.Encoding.Default);

                using (FileStream readStream = File.OpenRead(currentFile))
                    BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(readStream);


                    byte[] buffer = new byte[10240]; //Equals a 10mb buffer.
                    int bytesRead;

                    while ((bytesRead = readStream.Read(buffer, 0, 10240)) > 0)
                    {
                        writeStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
                    }
                }
            }

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fcsIT

7/14/2016

ASKER

You sir are a genius. That's so much easier than what I was trying to do, and it worked great, thank you so much!

Olaf Doschke

7/14/2016

You don't even need a string array using ReadAllText()/AppendAllText(), but it's a good idea in terms of RAM usage and read/write flow to use a binary reader going through a smaller buffer. 10240 is 10KB, but already way better than reading byte by byte.

Bye, Olaf.

Your help has saved me hundreds of hours of internet surfing.

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