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AppendtwoormorebytearraysinC#

Isthereabest(seebelow)waytoappendtwobytearraysinC#?

PretendingIhavecompletecontrol,Icanmakethefirstbytearraysufficientlylargetoholdthesecondbytearrayattheendandusethe
Array.CopyTofunction.OrIcanloopoverindividualbytesandmakeanassignment.

Aretherebetterways?Ican'timaginedoingsomethinglikeconvertingthebytearraystostringandjoiningthemandconvertingthemback
wouldbebetterthaneithermethodabove.

Intermsofbest/better(inorder):

1.Fastest
2.LeastRAMconsumption

AconstraintisthatImustworkinthe.NET2.0framework.

ThetwochoicesrecommendedareMemoryStreamandBlockCopy.Ihaverunasimplespeedtestof10,000,000loops3timesandgotthe
followingresults:

Averageof3runsof10,000,000loopsinmilliseconds:

BlockCopyTime:1154,witharangeof13milliseconds
MemoryStreamGetBufferTime:1470,witharangeof14milliseconds
MemoryStreamToArrayTime:1895,witharangeof3milliseconds
CopyToTime:2079,witharangeof19milliseconds
BytebybyteTime:2203,witharangeof10milliseconds

ResultsofList<byte>AddRangeover10millionloops:List<byte>Time:16694

RelativeRAMConsumption(1isbaseline,higherisworse):

Bytebybyte:1
BlockCopy:1
CopyTo:1
MemoryStreamGetBuffer:2.3
MemoryStreamToArray:3.3
List<byte>:4.2

Thetestshowsthatingeneral,unlessyouaredoingalotofbytecopies[whichIam],lookingatbytecopiesisnotworthafocus[e.g.10
millionrunsyieldingadifferenceofasmuchas1.1seconds].

c# bytearray

editedApr27at14:54 askedMay21'09at20:58
PeterMortensen torial
10.4k 13 72 108 10.5k 9 52 81

http://stackoverow.com/questions/895120/append-two-or-more-byte-arrays-in-c-sharp 1/3
6/12/2016 bytearray - Append two or more byte arrays in C# - Stack Overow
Re:MemoryusageThebestwaytofindthatistouseamemoryprofiler.dss539May22'09at15:19

Thanks,IusedtheCLRProfilertogetthememorydata.Forgottohaveitrunasadministrator,sogetting
resultsforthatwasdelayed. torial May22'09at21:08

possibleduplicateofBestwaytocombinetwoormorebytearraysinC#FraserJul29'13at22:32

8Answers

YouwantBlockCopy

AccordingtothisblogpostitisfasterthanArray.CopyTo.

answeredMay21'09at21:11
dss539
4,304 1 19 48

1 yeahArray.CopyToisO(n).It'sunfortunatethatMSdidn'toptimizethisatallforbytearrays...
JonathanCDickinsonMay22'09at6:17

BlockCopybeatMemoryStreaminspeed(don'thaveareliabletestforRAM),soselectingasanswer.
torial May22'09at15:38

CreateanewMemoryStreampassingintotheconstructorabufferthat'sexactlythesizeofthe
mergedone.Writetheindividualarrays,andthenfinallyusethebuffer:

byte[] deadBeef = new byte[] { 0xDE, 0xAD, 0xBE, 0xEF};

byte[] baadF00d = new byte[] { 0xBA, 0xAD, 0xF0, 0x0D};
int newSize = deadBeef.Length + baadF00d.Length;
var ms = new MemoryStream(new byte[newSize], 0, newSize, true, true);
ms.Write(deadBeef, 0, deadBeef.Length);
ms.Write(baadF00d, 0, baadF00d.Length);
byte[] merged = ms.GetBuffer();

AlotofthelowlevelI/Ofunctionsin.NETtakebytearraysandoffsets.Thiswasdoneto
preventneedlesscopies.Besureyoureallyneedthemergedarrayifthisisperformance
sensitive,otherwisejustusebuffersandoffsets.

answeredMay21'09at21:18
JeffMoser
14.8k 3 48 75

Ifyougothisroute,usems.ToArray()ratherthanms.GetBuffer()eventhoughyou'repassingtheexplicit
length,it'sstillpossiblethattheinternalbufferreturnedviaGetBuffer()willhavemorebytesthanspecified.
Thatistosay:don'trelyontheinternalimplementationofMemoryStream.ErikForbesMay21'09at
21:20

1 ToArraywillcreateacopywhichwillhurtperformance.Ifyougothisroutewithanexplicitbuffersize,it'llbe
exactlythesizeyouspecified.Ifyoutrytogolarger,you'llgetaNotSupportedException.JeffMoserMay
21'09at21:24

YoucouldalsouseanapproachwithaMemoryStream.Supposeb1andb2aretwobyte
arrays,youcangetanewone,b3,byusingtheMemoryStreaminthefollowingfashion:

var s = new MemoryStream();

s.Write(b1, 0, b1.Length);
s.Write(b2, 0, b2.Length);
var b3 = s.ToArray();

ThisshouldworkwithoutLINQandisinfactquiteabitfaster.

answeredMay21'09at21:29
flq
15.4k 3 36 64

Ilikethatthisisquiteabitsmallerincode.Easiertounderstandmaybe.Clean:)Cort3zJan21'13at
11:13

http://stackoverow.com/questions/895120/append-two-or-more-byte-arrays-in-c-sharp 2/3
6/12/2016 bytearray - Append two or more byte arrays in C# - Stack Overow

Anotheroption,althoughIhaven'ttestedittoseehowitfaresintermsofspeedandmemory
consumption,wouldtheLINQapproach:

byte[] combined = bytesOne.Concat(bytesTwo).Concat(bytesThree).ToArray();

...wherebytesOne,bytesTwo,andbytesThreearebytearrays.SinceConcatusesdeferred
execution,thisshouldn'tcreateanyintermediatearrays,anditshouldn'tduplicatetheoriginal
arraysuntilitconstructsthefinalmergedarrayattheend.

Edit:LINQBridgewillallowyoutouseLINQtoObjects(whichthisisanexampleof)inthe2.0
framework.Iunderstandifyoudon'twanttodependonthis,butit'sanoption.

answeredMay21'09at21:11
JoelMueller
20.3k 7 47 76

Thanks,Iamunfortunatelylimitedto2.0.Ihaveupdatedmyquestiontostatethat. torial May21'09at

21:13

Ifyouhavearrayswherethesizewillchangefromtimetotime,you'reprobablybetteroffusing
a List<T> inthefirstplace.Thenyoucanjustcallthe AddRange() methodofthelist.

Otherwise,Array.Copy()orArray.CopyTo()areasgoodasanythingelseyou'relikelytosee.

answeredMay21'09at21:05
JoelCoehoorn
252k 92 446 666

HaveyoutaughtaboutusingListorArrayListinsteadofanArray?Withthesetypestheycan
groworshrinkandappendviaInsertRange

answeredMay21'09at21:13
AndrewB
654 1 7 17

Doyouneedtheoutputtoactuallybeabytearray?

Ifnot,youcouldcreateyourselfa"smartcursor"(whichissimilartowhatLINQdoes):Createa
customIEnumerator<byte>thatwillfirstiteratethefirstarray,andjustcontinueonthesecond
onewithoutinteruption.

Thiswouldworkinthe2.0frameworkbefast(inthatthejoiningofarrayshasvirtuallynocost),
andusenomoreRAMthanthearraysalreadyconsume.

answeredMay21'09at21:22
ArjanEinbu
10.1k 37 55

Yourfirstoptionofmakingthefirstarraylargeenoughtocontainthesecondarrayandusing
Array.CopyToendsupbeingroughlythesameasmanuallyiteratingovereachitemand
makingtheassignment.Array.CopyTo()justmakesitmoreconcise.

Convertingtostringandbacktoarraywillbehorriblyslowincontrasttotheabove.Andwould
likelyusemorememory.

answeredMay21'09at21:03
Nate
18.6k 14 79 153

http://stackoverow.com/questions/895120/append-two-or-more-byte-arrays-in-c-sharp 3/3