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I have a big text file (5Mb) that I use in my Android application. I create the file as a list of pre-sorted Strings, and the file doesn’t change once it is created. How can I perform a binary search on the contents of this file, without reading line-by-line to find the matching String?
Since the content of the file does not change, you can break the file into multiple pieces. Say A-G, H-N, 0-T and U-Z. This allows you to check the first character and immediately be able to cut the possible set to a fourth of the original size. Now a linear search will not take as long or reading the whole file could be an option. This process could be extended if n/4 is still too large, but the idea is the same. Build the search breakdowns into the file structure instead of trying to do it all in memory.