diff --git a/messages_per_second.py b/messages_per_second.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4385582
--- /dev/null
+++ b/messages_per_second.py
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import os
+import glob
+from collections import Counter
+from datetime import datetime
+import sys
+
+
+def extract_msh_7(hl7_message):
+    """Extracts MSH-7 (timestamp) from an HL7 message, handling blank lines and CR/LF issues."""
+    try:
+        # Normalize line endings (handle \r, \n, and \r\n inconsistencies)
+        hl7_message = hl7_message.replace("\r", "\n")
+
+        # Split and remove empty lines
+        lines = [line.strip() for line in hl7_message.splitlines() if line.strip()]
+
+        # Find the MSH segment
+        msh_line = next((line for line in lines if line.startswith("MSH|")), None)
+
+        if not msh_line:
+            print("Warning: No MSH segment found.")
+            return None
+
+        # Extract field separator from MSH-1 (should always be '|')
+        separator = msh_line[3]  # The 4th character is always the delimiter
+
+        # Split MSH using the correct separator
+        msh_fields = msh_line.split(separator)
+
+        if len(msh_fields) <= 6 or not msh_fields[6].strip():
+            print(f"Warning: MSH-7 is empty or missing. MSH Line: {msh_line}")
+            return None
+
+        timestamp = msh_fields[6].strip()
+
+        # Parse timestamp format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
+        return datetime.strptime(timestamp, "%Y%m%d%H%M%S")
+
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"Error parsing MSH-7: {e} (HL7 Raw: {hl7_message[:100]})")
+        return None
+
+
+def calculate_max_messages_per_second(file_pattern, top_n):
+    """Efficiently calculates the max messages per second from HL7 messages."""
+    message_counts = Counter()
+
+    file_list = glob.glob(file_pattern)
+    print(f"Processing {len(file_list)} HL7 files...")
+
+    for filepath in file_list:
+        try:
+            with open(filepath, "r", encoding="utf-8") as file:
+                hl7_message = file.read()
+                timestamp = extract_msh_7(hl7_message)
+
+                if timestamp:
+                    timestamp_key = timestamp.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
+                    message_counts[timestamp_key] += 1
+        except Exception as e:
+            print(f"Error reading file {filepath}: {e}")
+
+    if not message_counts:
+        print("No valid timestamps found. Ensure MSH-7 exists and format is correct.")
+        return
+
+    sorted_counts = sorted(message_counts.items(), key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)[:top_n]
+    print(f"Top {top_n} timestamps with highest message counts:")
+    for timestamp, count in sorted_counts:
+        print(f"{timestamp}: {count}")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
+        print("Usage: python script.py '/path/to/files/*.hl7' <top_n>")
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    file_pattern = sys.argv[1]
+    top_n = int(sys.argv[2])
+    if top_n <= 0 or top_n > 100:
+        print("Error: top_n must be a number between 1 and 100.")
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    calculate_max_messages_per_second(file_pattern, top_n)