Question

I have to perform a task and I’ll do my best to detail it.

I have 5 folders, for example:

• Folder A
• Folder B
• Folder C
• Folder D
• Folder E

In each of these folders is a file. Basically, I need to compare each file against one another (I’ll be calculating a value based upon data within these files.) This needs to be done for every combination (A to B, A to C, A to D, A to E, B to C, B to D, B to E, C to D, C to E, D to E)

Not really sure where to begin with this. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Not sure what your returning value is, but here’s an example of traversing the five folders and appending values to a single string as the final value.
You can build your own logic upon this.

string CompareMyFolders()
{
    string FinalValue = "";
    DirectoryInfo[] folders = new DirectoryInfo[5];
    folders[0] = new DirectoryInfo("C:\\FolderA\\");
    folders[1] = ...;
    folders[2] = ...;
    folders[3] = ...;
    folders[4] = ...;

    for(int i = 0; i < folders.Length - 1; i++)
        for(int j = i + 1; j < folders.Length; j++)
            FinalValue += CompareFolders(folders[i], folders[j]);

    return FinalValue;
}

string CompareFolders(DirectoryInfo folder1, DirectoryInfo folder2)
{
    string value = "";
    // compare the files in both directory
    // append the returning data to the value

    return value;
}