# External Merge Sort (Big Buffer Strategy)
A C++20 implementation of an external sorting algorithm designed to sort files that are too large to fit into the system's RAM. This project uses a Big Buffer approach to minimize disk I/O by maximizing the use of available memory during both the initial run creation and the merging phases.

# Requirements
  Clang++ or G++ (Support for C++20 required)
  Make
  
# Compilation
```bash
make
````

# Usage

The binary is located in the build/ directory after compilation.

# Generate Data

# To generate a test file with 100,000 random records:
```bash
./build/main -g 100000 -o input.dat
```

# Sort Data

To sort the generated file using 11 buffers of 10 records each:
```bash
./build/main -i input.dat -o output.dat -n 11 -b 10
```

# Options
Flag	Description
-i	Input file path
-o	Output file path
-n	Number of buffers (minimum 3)
-b	Size of each buffer (number of records)
-g	Generate count random records
-e	Evaluate and print the contents of a file
-d	Temporary directory for merge runs