Typical approaches recommend reading the binary via FileStream and comparing it byte-by-byte.
- Would a checksum comparison such as CRC be faster?
- Are there any .NET libraries that can generate a checksum for a file?
How to compare 2 files fast using .NET?
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19 Answers
My answer is a derivative of @lars but fixes the bug in the call to Stream.Read. I also add some fast path checking that other answers had, and input validation. In short, this should be the answer:
using System;
using System.IO;
namespace ConsoleApp4
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var fi1 = new FileInfo(args[0]);
var fi2 = new FileInfo(args[1]);
Console.WriteLine(FilesContentsAreEqual(fi1, fi2));
}
public static bool FilesContentsAreEqual(FileInfo fileInfo1, FileInfo fileInfo2)
{
if (fileInfo1 == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(fileInfo1));
}
if (fileInfo2 == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(fileInfo2));
}
if (string.Equals(fileInfo1.FullName, fileInfo2.FullName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
return true;
}
if (fileInfo1.Length != fileInfo2.Length)
{
return false;
}
else
{
using (var file1 = fileInfo1.OpenRead())
{
using (var file2 = fileInfo2.OpenRead())
{
return StreamsContentsAreEqual(file1, file2);
}
}
}
}
private static int ReadFullBuffer(Stream stream, byte[] buffer)
{
int bytesRead = 0;
while (bytesRead < buffer.Length)
{
int read = stream.Read(buffer, bytesRead, buffer.Length - bytesRead);
if (read == 0)
{
// Reached end of stream.
return bytesRead;
}
bytesRead += read;
}
return bytesRead;
}
private static bool StreamsContentsAreEqual(Stream stream1, Stream stream2)
{
const int bufferSize = 1024 * sizeof(Int64);
var buffer1 = new byte[bufferSize];
var buffer2 = new byte[bufferSize];
while (true)
{
int count1 = ReadFullBuffer(stream1, buffer1);
int count2 = ReadFullBuffer(stream2, buffer2);
if (count1 != count2)
{
return false;
}
if (count1 == 0)
{
return true;
}
int iterations = (int)Math.Ceiling((double)count1 / sizeof(Int64));
for (int i = 0; i < iterations; i++)
{
if (BitConverter.ToInt64(buffer1, i * sizeof(Int64)) != BitConverter.ToInt64(buffer2, i * sizeof(Int64)))
{
return false;
}
}
}
}
}
}
Or if you want to be super-awesome, you can use the async variant:
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace ConsoleApp4
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var fi1 = new FileInfo(args[0]);
var fi2 = new FileInfo(args[1]);
Console.WriteLine(FilesContentsAreEqualAsync(fi1, fi2).GetAwaiter().GetResult());
}
public static async Task<bool> FilesContentsAreEqualAsync(FileInfo fileInfo1, FileInfo fileInfo2)
{
if (fileInfo1 == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(fileInfo1));
}
if (fileInfo2 == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(fileInfo2));
}
if (string.Equals(fileInfo1.FullName, fileInfo2.FullName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
return true;
}
if (fileInfo1.Length != fileInfo2.Length)
{
return false;
}
else
{
using (var file1 = fileInfo1.OpenRead())
{
using (var file2 = fileInfo2.OpenRead())
{
return await StreamsContentsAreEqualAsync(file1, file2).ConfigureAwait(false);
}
}
}
}
private static async Task<int> ReadFullBufferAsync(Stream stream, byte[] buffer)
{
int bytesRead = 0;
while (bytesRead < buffer.Length)
{
int read = await stream.ReadAsync(buffer, bytesRead, buffer.Length - bytesRead).ConfigureAwait(false);
if (read == 0)
{
// Reached end of stream.
return bytesRead;
}
bytesRead += read;
}
return bytesRead;
}
private static async Task<bool> StreamsContentsAreEqualAsync(Stream stream1, Stream stream2)
{
const int bufferSize = 1024 * sizeof(Int64);
var buffer1 = new byte[bufferSize];
var buffer2 = new byte[bufferSize];
while (true)
{
int count1 = await ReadFullBufferAsync(stream1, buffer1).ConfigureAwait(false);
int count2 = await ReadFullBufferAsync(stream2, buffer2).ConfigureAwait(false);
if (count1 != count2)
{
return false;
}
if (count1 == 0)
{
return true;
}
int iterations = (int)Math.Ceiling((double)count1 / sizeof(Int64));
for (int i = 0; i < iterations; i++)
{
if (BitConverter.ToInt64(buffer1, i * sizeof(Int64)) != BitConverter.ToInt64(buffer2, i * sizeof(Int64)))
{
return false;
}
}
}
}
}
}
Inspired from https://dev.to/emrahsungu/how-to-compare-two-files-using-net-really-really-fast-2pd9
Here is a proposal to do it with AVX2 SIMD instructions:
using System.Buffers;
using System.Runtime.Intrinsics;
using System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86;
namespace FileCompare;
public static class FastFileCompare
{
public static bool AreFilesEqual(FileInfo fileInfo1, FileInfo fileInfo2, int bufferSize = 4096 * 32)
{
if (fileInfo1.Exists == false)
{
throw new FileNotFoundException(nameof(fileInfo1), fileInfo1.FullName);
}
if (fileInfo2.Exists == false)
{
throw new FileNotFoundException(nameof(fileInfo2), fileInfo2.FullName);
}
if (fileInfo1.Length != fileInfo2.Length)
{
return false;
}
if (string.Equals(fileInfo1.FullName, fileInfo2.FullName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
return true;
}
using FileStream fileStream01 = fileInfo1.OpenRead();
using FileStream fileStream02 = fileInfo2.OpenRead();
ArrayPool<byte> sharedArrayPool = ArrayPool<byte>.Shared;
byte[] buffer1 = sharedArrayPool.Rent(bufferSize);
byte[] buffer2 = sharedArrayPool.Rent(bufferSize);
Array.Fill<byte>(buffer1, 0);
Array.Fill<byte>(buffer2, 0);
try
{
while (true)
{
int len1 = 0;
for (int read;
len1 < buffer1.Length &&
(read = fileStream01.Read(buffer1, len1, buffer1.Length - len1)) != 0;
len1 += read)
{
}
int len2 = 0;
for (int read;
len2 < buffer1.Length &&
(read = fileStream02.Read(buffer2, len2, buffer2.Length - len2)) != 0;
len2 += read)
{
}
if (len1 != len2)
{
return false;
}
if (len1 == 0)
{
return true;
}
unsafe
{
fixed (byte* pb1 = buffer1)
{
fixed (byte* pb2 = buffer2)
{
int vectorSize = Vector256<byte>.Count;
for (int processed = 0; processed < len1; processed += vectorSize)
{
Vector256<byte> result = Avx2.CompareEqual(Avx.LoadVector256(pb1 + processed), Avx.LoadVector256(pb2 + processed));
if (Avx2.MoveMask(result) != -1)
{
return false;
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
finally
{
sharedArrayPool.Return(buffer1);
sharedArrayPool.Return(buffer2);
}
}
}
Here are some utility functions that allow you to determine if two files (or two streams) contain identical data.
I have provided a "fast" version that is multi-threaded as it compares byte arrays (each buffer filled from what's been read in each file) in different threads using Tasks.
As expected, it's much faster (around 3x faster) but it consumes more CPU (because it's multi threaded) and more memory (because it needs two byte array buffers per comparison thread).
public static bool AreFilesIdenticalFast(string path1, string path2)
{
return AreFilesIdentical(path1, path2, AreStreamsIdenticalFast);
}
public static bool AreFilesIdentical(string path1, string path2)
{
return AreFilesIdentical(path1, path2, AreStreamsIdentical);
}
public static bool AreFilesIdentical(string path1, string path2, Func<Stream, Stream, bool> areStreamsIdentical)
{
if (path1 == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(path1));
if (path2 == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(path2));
if (areStreamsIdentical == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(path2));
if (!File.Exists(path1) || !File.Exists(path2))
return false;
using (var thisFile = new FileStream(path1, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite))
{
using (var valueFile = new FileStream(path2, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite))
{
if (valueFile.Length != thisFile.Length)
return false;
if (!areStreamsIdentical(thisFile, valueFile))
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
public static bool AreStreamsIdenticalFast(Stream stream1, Stream stream2)
{
if (stream1 == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(stream1));
if (stream2 == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(stream2));
const int bufsize = 80000; // 80000 is below LOH (85000)
var tasks = new List<Task<bool>>();
do
{
// consumes more memory (two buffers for each tasks)
var buffer1 = new byte[bufsize];
var buffer2 = new byte[bufsize];
int read1 = stream1.Read(buffer1, 0, buffer1.Length);
if (read1 == 0)
{
int read3 = stream2.Read(buffer2, 0, 1);
if (read3 != 0) // not eof
return false;
break;
}
// both stream read could return different counts
int read2 = 0;
do
{
int read3 = stream2.Read(buffer2, read2, read1 - read2);
if (read3 == 0)
return false;
read2 += read3;
}
while (read2 < read1);
// consumes more cpu
var task = Task.Run(() =>
{
return IsSame(buffer1, buffer2);
});
tasks.Add(task);
}
while (true);
Task.WaitAll(tasks.ToArray());
return !tasks.Any(t => !t.Result);
}
public static bool AreStreamsIdentical(Stream stream1, Stream stream2)
{
if (stream1 == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(stream1));
if (stream2 == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(stream2));
const int bufsize = 80000; // 80000 is below LOH (85000)
var buffer1 = new byte[bufsize];
var buffer2 = new byte[bufsize];
var tasks = new List<Task<bool>>();
do
{
int read1 = stream1.Read(buffer1, 0, buffer1.Length);
if (read1 == 0)
return stream2.Read(buffer2, 0, 1) == 0; // check not eof
// both stream read could return different counts
int read2 = 0;
do
{
int read3 = stream2.Read(buffer2, read2, read1 - read2);
if (read3 == 0)
return false;
read2 += read3;
}
while (read2 < read1);
if (!IsSame(buffer1, buffer2))
return false;
}
while (true);
}
public static bool IsSame(byte[] bytes1, byte[] bytes2)
{
if (bytes1 == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(bytes1));
if (bytes2 == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(bytes2));
if (bytes1.Length != bytes2.Length)
return false;
for (int i = 0; i < bytes1.Length; i++)
{
if (bytes1[i] != bytes2[i])
return false;
}
return true;
}
This I have found works well comparing first the length without reading data and then comparing the read byte sequence
private static bool IsFileIdentical(string a, string b)
{
if (new FileInfo(a).Length != new FileInfo(b).Length) return false;
return (File.ReadAllBytes(a).SequenceEqual(File.ReadAllBytes(b)));
}
Yet another answer, derived from @chsh. MD5 with usings and shortcuts for file same, file not exists and differing lengths:
/// <summary>
/// Performs an md5 on the content of both files and returns true if
/// they match
/// </summary>
/// <param name="file1">first file</param>
/// <param name="file2">second file</param>
/// <returns>true if the contents of the two files is the same, false otherwise</returns>
public static bool IsSameContent(string file1, string file2)
{
if (file1 == file2)
return true;
FileInfo file1Info = new FileInfo(file1);
FileInfo file2Info = new FileInfo(file2);
if (!file1Info.Exists && !file2Info.Exists)
return true;
if (!file1Info.Exists && file2Info.Exists)
return false;
if (file1Info.Exists && !file2Info.Exists)
return false;
if (file1Info.Length != file2Info.Length)
return false;
using (FileStream file1Stream = file1Info.OpenRead())
using (FileStream file2Stream = file2Info.OpenRead())
{
byte[] firstHash = MD5.Create().ComputeHash(file1Stream);
byte[] secondHash = MD5.Create().ComputeHash(file2Stream);
for (int i = 0; i < firstHash.Length; i++)
{
if (i>=secondHash.Length||firstHash[i] != secondHash[i])
return false;
}
return true;
}
}
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