Read whole file in C++ std::string

slurp-test.cpp

// slurp-test.cpp.
//
// Benchmark several methods to read a file into a C++ std::string. Partly based
// on the answers to my question:
//
// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2602013/read-whole-ascii-file-into-c-stdstring
//
// asked on April 08, 2010.
//
// Tests on several files with different sizes (from a few bytes to a couple of
// gigabytes) were conducted on a computer running macOS Big Sur 11.6. Slurp
// versions V5 and V5 seem to perform significantly better than the other
// alternatives, delivering read speeds of between 4300 and 4700
// MB/sec. Meanwhile, slurp versions V1 and V4 delivers the worst performance
// (between 150 and 220 MB/sec).
//
// The computer has the following hardware specifications. It is possible
// (though this was not verified) that our conclusions could be significantly
// different if the tests had been run on computers with different hardware.
//
// Model Name:	iMac
// Model Identifier:	iMac15,1
// Processor Name:	Quad-Core Intel Core i7
// Processor Speed:	4 GHz
// Number of Processors:	1
// Total Number of Cores:	4
// L2 Cache (per Core):	256 KB
// L3 Cache:	8 MB
// Hyper-Threading Technology:	Enabled
// Memory:	32 GB
//
//  Vendor:	Apple
//   Product:	SSD Controller
//   Physical Interconnect:	PCI
//   Link Width:	x2
//   Link Speed:	5.0 GT/s
//   Description:	AHCI Version 1.30 Supported
//
// APPLE SSD SM1024F:
//
//   Capacity:	1 TB (1,000,555,581,440 bytes)
//   Model:	APPLE SSD SM1024F
//   Revision:	UXM6JA1Q
//   Native Command Queuing:	Yes
//   Queue Depth:	32
//   Removable Media:	No
//   Detachable Drive:	No
//   BSD Name:	disk0
//   Medium Type:	Solid State
//   TRIM Support:	Yes
//   Bay Name:	SSD
//   Partition Map Type:	GPT (GUID Partition Table)
//   S.M.A.R.T. status:	Verified
//   Volumes:
// disk0s2:
//   Capacity:	1 TB (1,000,345,825,280 bytes)
//   BSD Name:	disk0s2
//   Content:	Apple_APFS
//
// Compiler and compiler options used for the benchmark:
//
// $ /usr/bin/clang++ --version
// Apple clang version 13.0.0 (clang-1300.0.29.3)
// Target: x86_64-apple-darwin20.6.0
// Thread model: posix
//
// $ clang++ slurp-test.cpp -o slurp-test -std=c++20 \
// -Wall -Wextra -O3 -march=native
//
// Sample output on a 119,741,440-byte (114 Mb) file:
//
// $ ./slurp-test file
// V1:     634923 μsec,    179.855 MB/sec
// V1:     531180 μsec,    214.982 MB/sec
// V1:     526570 μsec,    216.864 MB/sec
// V1:     526736 μsec,    216.796 MB/sec
// V1:     528415 μsec,    216.107 MB/sec
// ====================
// V2:     360654 μsec,    316.631 MB/sec
// V2:     309933 μsec,    368.448 MB/sec
// V2:     318911 μsec,    358.076 MB/sec
// V2:     314319 μsec,    363.307 MB/sec
// V2:     316232 μsec,    361.109 MB/sec
// ====================
// V3:      57627 μsec,    1981.61 MB/sec
// V3:      57295 μsec,    1993.09 MB/sec
// V3:      56192 μsec,    2032.22 MB/sec
// V3:      57038 μsec,    2002.07 MB/sec
// V3:      56718 μsec,    2013.37 MB/sec
// ====================
// V4:     553348 μsec,     206.37 MB/sec
// V4:     553840 μsec,    206.187 MB/sec
// V4:     546298 μsec,    209.033 MB/sec
// V4:     548282 μsec,    208.277 MB/sec
// V4:     549178 μsec,    207.937 MB/sec
// ====================
// V5:      24992 μsec,    4569.24 MB/sec
// V5:      25241 μsec,    4524.16 MB/sec
// V5:      24588 μsec,    4644.31 MB/sec
// V5:      25366 μsec,    4501.87 MB/sec
// V5:      24463 μsec,    4668.04 MB/sec
// ====================
// V6:      26066 μsec,    4380.97 MB/sec
// V6:      24739 μsec,    4615.96 MB/sec
// V6:      25871 μsec,    4413.99 MB/sec
// V6:      24453 μsec,    4669.95 MB/sec
// V6:      27580 μsec,    4140.48 MB/sec
// ====================
//
// Sample output on slurp-test executable, 66,648 bytes (65K):
//
// $ ./slurp-test slurp-test
//
// V1:        463 μsec,     137.28 MB/sec
// V1:        426 μsec,    149.203 MB/sec
// V1:        344 μsec,    184.769 MB/sec
// V1:        490 μsec,    129.715 MB/sec
// V1:        345 μsec,    184.233 MB/sec
// ====================
// V2:        219 μsec,    290.231 MB/sec
// V2:        185 μsec,     343.57 MB/sec
// V2:        190 μsec,    334.529 MB/sec
// V2:        170 μsec,    373.885 MB/sec
// V2:        170 μsec,    373.885 MB/sec
// ====================
// V3:         64 μsec,    993.133 MB/sec
// V3:         59 μsec,     1077.3 MB/sec
// V3:         46 μsec,    1381.75 MB/sec
// V3:         57 μsec,     1115.1 MB/sec
// V3:         48 μsec,    1324.18 MB/sec
// ====================
// V4:        356 μsec,    178.541 MB/sec
// V4:        310 μsec,    205.034 MB/sec
// V4:        309 μsec,    205.697 MB/sec
// V4:        309 μsec,    205.697 MB/sec
// V4:        309 μsec,    205.697 MB/sec
// ====================
// V5:         24 μsec,    2648.35 MB/sec
// V5:         30 μsec,    2118.68 MB/sec
// V5:         20 μsec,    3178.02 MB/sec
// V5:         29 μsec,    2191.74 MB/sec
// V5:         29 μsec,    2191.74 MB/sec
// ====================
// V6:         40 μsec,    1589.01 MB/sec
// V6:         20 μsec,    3178.02 MB/sec
// V6:         29 μsec,    2191.74 MB/sec
// V6:         29 μsec,    2191.74 MB/sec
// V6:         18 μsec,    3531.14 MB/sec
// ====================
//
// (C) 2021 Nabla Zero Labs.

#include <chrono>
#include <cstdio>
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <sstream>

namespace slurp {

inline namespace v1 {
std::string file(std::string path) {
  std::ifstream fp(path, std::ios::in | std::ios::binary);
  return {std::istreambuf_iterator<char>{fp}, std::istreambuf_iterator<char>{}};
}
}  // namespace v1

namespace v2 {
std::string file(std::string path) {
  std::ifstream     fp(path, std::ios::in | std::ios::binary);
  std::stringstream buffer;
  buffer << fp.rdbuf();
  return buffer.str();
}
}  // namespace v2

namespace v3 {
std::string file(std::string path) {
  std::ifstream fp(path, std::ios::in | std::ios::binary | std::ios::ate);
  const auto    size = fp.tellg();
  std::string   s;
  s.resize(size);
  fp.seekg(0u);
  fp.read(&s[0], size);
  return s;
}
}  // namespace v3

namespace v4 {
std::string file(std::string path) {
  std::ifstream t(path);
  std::string   str;

  t.seekg(0, std::ios::end);
  str.reserve(t.tellg());
  t.seekg(0, std::ios::beg);

  str.assign((std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(t)),
             std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
  return str;
}
}  // namespace v4

namespace v5 {
std::string file(std::string path) {
  auto        fp = std::fopen(path.c_str(), "rb");
  std::string s;
  std::fseek(fp, 0u, SEEK_END);
  auto size = std::ftell(fp);
  std::fseek(fp, 0u, SEEK_SET);
  s.resize(size);
  std::fread(&s[0], 1u, size, fp);
  std::fclose(fp);
  return s;
}
}  // namespace v5
namespace v6 {
std::string file(std::string path) {
  auto fp = std::fopen(path.c_str(), "rb");
  std::fseek(fp, 0u, SEEK_END);
  auto size = std::ftell(fp);
  std::fseek(fp, 0u, SEEK_SET);
  std::string s(size, '\0');
  std::fread(&s[0], 1u, size, fp);
  std::fclose(fp);
  return s;
}

}  // namespace v6
}  // namespace slurp

template <typename Func>
void time(Func f, const char* name, const char* path) {
  for (auto k = 0; k < 5; ++k) {
    using namespace std::chrono;
    const auto cpu_beg = system_clock::now();
    const auto data    = f(path);
    const auto cpu_end = system_clock::now();
    const auto time    = microseconds(cpu_end - cpu_beg).count();
    const auto mb      = data.size() / (1024.0 * 1024.0);
    const auto rate    = mb / (time / 1.0E6);
    std::cout << std::setprecision(6) << name << ": " << std::setw(10) << time
              << " μsec, " << std::setw(10) << rate << " MB/sec\n";
  }
  std::cout << "====================\n";
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
  if (argc != 2) {
    std::cerr << "usage: slurp-test PATH\n";
    return 1;
  }

  time(slurp::v1::file, "V1", argv[1]);
  time(slurp::v2::file, "V2", argv[1]);
  time(slurp::v3::file, "V3", argv[1]);
  time(slurp::v4::file, "V4", argv[1]);
  time(slurp::v5::file, "V5", argv[1]);
  time(slurp::v6::file, "V6", argv[1]);
}

Implementation of slurp.hpp with the best version.

#pragma once

#include <cassert>
#include <cerrno>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstring>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <string>

namespace nzl {

/// @brief Slurp the contents of a file into a string.
/// @param[in] path Path to the file.
/// @return String with whole file contents.
/// @throw std::runtime_error if file cannot be read.
inline std::string slurp(const std::string& path) {
  auto fp = std::fopen(path.c_str(), "rb");

  if (fp == nullptr) {
    throw std::runtime_error(path + ": " + std::strerror(errno));
  }

  std::fseek(fp, 0u, SEEK_END);
  const auto size = std::ftell(fp);
  std::fseek(fp, 0u, SEEK_SET);

  std::string s;
  s.resize(size);

  const auto read = std::fread(&s[0], 1u, size, fp);
  std::fclose(fp);

  assert(read == size);

  return s;
}

}  // namespace nzl

Thanks. On my platform I needed to #include <iomanip> as well as changing line 240 to
const auto time = duration_cast<microseconds>(cpu_end - cpu_beg).count();