Instead of using merge-sort alone ( as a plain approach ) a hybrid way of using in-memory sorting and merge-sort can be combined and used together.

For ex:

Out of the total 'n' number of files, sort only 'm' files in memory

( m could be approximately be m ~ n/2, this is just approximation and can increase/decrease based on the in-memory available and threshold value of memory permitted to be used by the process in consideration )



With the approach of combining merge-sort and in-memory sort

1) Both merge-sort and the quickness of in-memory sort are being used

2) No problem of too many files taking too much of memory, as sorting the number of files in memory is now controlled

In reply to Re^2: read and sort multiple files by matrixmadhan
in thread read and sort multiple files by newPerlr

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