How to read last “n” lines of log file

Question

need a snippet of code which would read out last \"n lines\" of a log file. I came up with the following code from the net.I am kinda new to C sharp. Since the log file migh

Answer 1

Here is my answer:-

    private string StatisticsFile = @"c:\yourfilename.txt";

    // Read last lines of a file....
    public IList<string> ReadLastLines(int nFromLine, int nNoLines, out bool bMore)
    {
        // Initialise more
        bMore = false;
        try
        {
            char[] buffer = null;
            //lock (strMessages)  Lock something if you need to....
            {
                if (File.Exists(StatisticsFile))
                {
                    // Open file
                    using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(StatisticsFile))
                    {
                        long FileLength = sr.BaseStream.Length;

                        int c, linescount = 0;
                        long pos = FileLength - 1;
                        long PreviousReturn = FileLength;
                        // Process file
                        while (pos >= 0 && linescount < nFromLine + nNoLines) // Until found correct place
                        {
                            // Read a character from the end
                            c = BufferedGetCharBackwards(sr, pos);
                            if (c == Convert.ToInt32('\n'))
                            {
                                // Found return character
                                if (++linescount == nFromLine)
                                    // Found last place
                                    PreviousReturn = pos + 1; // Read to here
                            }
                            // Previous char
                            pos--;
                        }
                        pos++;
                        // Create buffer
                        buffer = new char[PreviousReturn - pos];
                        sr.DiscardBufferedData();
                        // Read all our chars
                        sr.BaseStream.Seek(pos, SeekOrigin.Begin);
                        sr.Read(buffer, (int)0, (int)(PreviousReturn - pos));
                        sr.Close();
                        // Store if more lines available
                        if (pos > 0)
                            // Is there more?
                            bMore = true;
                    }
                    if (buffer != null)
                    {
                        // Get data
                        string strResult = new string(buffer);
                        strResult = strResult.Replace("\r", "");

                        // Store in List
                        List<string> strSort = new List<string>(strResult.Split('\n'));
                        // Reverse order
                        strSort.Reverse();

                        return strSort;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("ReadLastLines Exception:" + ex.ToString());
        }
        // Lets return a list with no entries
        return new List<string>();
    }

    const int CACHE_BUFFER_SIZE = 1024;
    private long ncachestartbuffer = -1;
    private char[] cachebuffer = null;
    // Cache the file....
    private int BufferedGetCharBackwards(StreamReader sr, long iPosFromBegin)
    {
        // Check for error
        if (iPosFromBegin < 0 || iPosFromBegin >= sr.BaseStream.Length)
            return -1;
        // See if we have the character already
        if (ncachestartbuffer >= 0 && ncachestartbuffer <= iPosFromBegin && ncachestartbuffer + cachebuffer.Length > iPosFromBegin)
        {
            return cachebuffer[iPosFromBegin - ncachestartbuffer];
        }
        // Load into cache
        ncachestartbuffer = (int)Math.Max(0, iPosFromBegin - CACHE_BUFFER_SIZE + 1);
        int nLength = (int)Math.Min(CACHE_BUFFER_SIZE, sr.BaseStream.Length - ncachestartbuffer);
        cachebuffer = new char[nLength];
        sr.DiscardBufferedData();
        sr.BaseStream.Seek(ncachestartbuffer, SeekOrigin.Begin);
        sr.Read(cachebuffer, (int)0, (int)nLength);

        return BufferedGetCharBackwards(sr, iPosFromBegin);
    }

Note:-

1. Call ReadLastLines with nLineFrom starting at 0 for the last line and nNoLines as the number of lines to read back from.
2. It reverses the list so the 1st one is the last line in the file.
3. bMore returns true if there are more lines to read.
4. It caches the data in 1024 char chunks - so it is fast, you may want to increase this size for very large files.

Enjoy!