Merge plain text files even recursively and with separators, using TXTcollector
TXTcollector is a free text files merging tool. It grabs all .txt files from the directory of your choice and combines them into a new, larger, text file. You can use it to combine reports, logs, mailing lists, etc.
Features: Puts directory, file name and separator between each text file; Possibility to add your own extensions and separators; Popup list with files ready to be merged; Able to recursively search directories; Allows continuous merging (without Carriage Returns).
If you work with continuous text files, and want to merge them without adding a carriage return between each segment (which would allow a continuous flow) then tick the “No Carriage Returns” checkbox. Additionally you may need to add a space between the segments: in that case also tick the “Add Space Char” checkbox.
When you click on the status label “xx files found”, TXTcollector will popup a list with filenames. You can add your own extensions to TXTcollector. Use the extensions.txt file located in the TXTcollector application data dir* for that purpose. Keep in mind though that TXTcollector only handles plain text files, no matter what extension is used…
There is also the option to add self-made separators to TXTcollector. You have to add your creations to the separators.txt file (also to be found in the TXTcollector application data dir*). * Click the “Extensions and Separators” link to open up this folder.
Files that fail the TXTcollector merge-routine are either: * no plain text files, * occupied (in use) by the system or a program, or * they just do not permit access… Tip: to avoid files from being skipped it helps when you save your text files using the ANSI encoding. You can recognize skipped files by the [Error] – File could not be written… line in the combined.txt file. (Do a simple search for “[Error” in your text editor to find it quickly).
TXTcollector stops merging at a count of 32765 files. It will automatically disregard files above that amount but still offer you a a merged file with the files it processed up to that point.
