The merge files filter is used to join files together. The content from each file is simply appended to the content from the previous file, with no extra characters e.g. if you joined files A, B and C, the merge files filter would result in output like this:

[file A][file B][file C]

This filter can be used for:

• Joining together binary files that have been split
• Joining together the processed results from large numbers of smaller files e.g. extracting email addresses or URLs from a large number of web pages, then using the merge files filter to join the results together so that a sort and remove duplicates can be performed.

By contrast, the output filter joins all input files together when it is set to Output to Clipboard or Single File Output. The join is performed as the very last stage in the filtering process. A merge files filter allows the merge operation to be followed by additional text processing operations, typically a sort and remove duplicates, or adding a header or footer. If the output filter is also set to Output to Clipboard or Single File Output, the merge filter filename is overridden by the output filter. The content from all files is joined at the point that the merge filter appears in the filter list. 

If you join text files together, you can ensure that each file ends properly (i.e. that the start of subsequent files are not joined to the end of a line of the previous file) by using an Add Footer filter (with \013\010) before the Merge files filter.
 

See also

Split
Output Filter

 Contact Us   Support   Community   Tutorials and User Guides (online)
 Copyright © 1999-2006 DataMystic. All rights reserved.