I have a very big text file (10 GB). Both Notepad [1] and Notepad++ [2] tell me that the file is too big for them to open. What editor can handle such a large file? It's a log file.
If you only need to read the file, I can suggest Large Text File Viewer [1].
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20141121061431/http://www.swiftgear.com/ltfviewer/features.htmlLarge Text File Viewer
does open very large files, BUT this is definitely not the best solution. Based on this answer I used Large Text File Viewer
for viewing large log files (excess of 2 Gb) and although it opened them, searching was very slow. I then tried V - The File Viewer
mentioned in an answer lower down and that was extremely fast... searches for text in a 2Gb file in a matter of seconds. V definitely gets my vote. - BruceHill
Stack Overflow ref Text editor to open big (giant, huge, large) text files [1].
Vim [2] is a personal favorite.
UltraEdit [1] is your best bet - I've opened files that were a few gigabytes in size with it. They also have some tips on opening large files [2].
It's not free, however.
Otherwise, you can use the Unix split [3] utility from the command line - should be included in Cygwin or the Linux command line tools for Windows [4]. You'll have much better luck dealing with the files if you've split them up into smaller chunks.
[1] http://www.ultraedit.comThe best one I tried was V - The File Viewer [1], when I needed to analyse a text file of more than 1 TB. It was by far the fastest. It's not free, though ($20).
[1] http://www.fileviewer.com/Large Text File Viewer
(the accepted solution to this question) and it was disastrous... searching was SLOW. V - The File Viewer
on the other hand is fantastic!! This answer definitely need more upvotes!! :) - BruceHill
EmEditor [1] is a very nice editor all around, but also build with opening very large files in mind.
From their site, and I quote: " EmEditor Text Editor is a lightweight, yet extendable, easy-to-use text editor for Windows. EmEditor is very customizable, and it supports Unicode and powerful macros. EmEditor now supports very large files - up to 248 GB or 2.1 billion lines! EmEditor is certified for Windows Vista! The x64 Edition is also available! The portable version is also available for USB drive setup! "
[1] http://www.emeditor.comTotal Commander [1]'s lister can open very large files for reading. For editing you might also use some kind of Hex editor (like the free HxD [2]), they can usually open and edit large files.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_CommanderThe Unix sed (stream editor) command can handle files of an arbitrary large (even infinite) file size, because it applies a script of editing commands to the stream of lines that pass through it. You can easily get it for Windows through the Cygwin [1] distribution.
For instance, if you want to delete all files containing the string foo you write in the command prompt:
sed /foo/d <inputfile >outputfile
To substitute foo with bar write:
sed s/foo/bar/ <inputfile >outputfile
More complicated constructions are possible. Someone has even written a script to have sed solve the Towers of Hanoi puzzle [2].
[1] http://www.cygwin.com/sed -i
. To save a backup with the .bak
extension use sed -ibak
- Nathan Fellman
sed
, just as a side note. - cregox
I've had luck with TextPad [1] on files 2 GB in size with less ram than that, it takes a while to load up, but it works.
[1] http://www.textpad.com/I have developed a Unicode editor called GigaEdit [1] specifically to solve this issue of opening unlimited size files instantly by blocks of 1 MB with scrollbar to navigate effortlessly between blocks and a multi-threaded search feature that displays a result as they become available and allows you to go to matches instantly F3 or Shift+F3 even across blocks transparently.
WARNING: There is no UNDO after saving so make sure you know what you are doing.
[1] http://www.heliwave.com/GigaEdit.htmlFor looking through large files (but only for read-only purposes), I use a Windows port of the UNIX less
utility. It generally loads up any large file very quickly, and is pretty quick at searching for text patterns (once you get past its learning curve).
(Oh, and the other catch is that you have to run it within a command prompt window. It might not work if you were looking for something a bit more visually friendly.)
I don't recall where I found my current copy of it, but a quick web search shows a few possible places to download one, e.g.:
I would recommend VEDIT [1]. It is about the only editor that is fast enough to realistically edit huge files. Its engine has been written in highly optimized assembly language.
No matter how big the file, VEDIT loads it in a fraction of a second (typically about 0.1 second). Most editors load the whole file in memory, which limits the file size and slows down opening the file. VEDIT only loads a part of the file at a time, and does not create a huge temporary file when opening the file (temporary files are created only when needed and as big as needed). In addition, VEDIT uses very little of computer memory. When I had a 300 MB file open, Task Manager reported 4.5 MB memory usage for VEDIT.
If you are just viewing the file and not editing, opening the file in read-only mode (with Fast Browse Mode enabled) makes VEDIT even faster. For example, you can scroll to any location in the file instantly, without any delay.
The standard (32-bit) version of VEDIT can handle files up to 2 GB. VEDIT Pro64 can handle files of any size.
To edit files larger than 2 GB on a 32-bit editor, you can split the file into smaller parts. You could use a separate tool for that, but VEDIT has built-in function to split and combine such files. For huge log files, splitting might be good idea anyway. You can then open all the parts for editing simultaneously and you can perform global searches among all of them, etc.
[1] http://www.vedit.com/I had trouble loading a 5.5 GB binary file in a whole range of editors. Two I found that worked, and opened the file instantly:
HxD is my preferred one, since it is free, supports viewing and editing and is a stand alone. My large files are generally binary, so a hex editor is fine. But for viewing large text files, Altap Salamander has a better viewer.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altap_Salamandertail
command. gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/coreutils.htm - dlamblin
I edited a file of 7 GB with PilotEdit [1]. But it may take you an hour to open/save a 10 GB file. After you open the file, you can edit it quickly.
[1] http://www.pilotedit.com/Under Windows, I use EditPad Pro [1] from Just Great Software [2] (there is a lite version too).
EditPad is the best editor I found. TextPad is also very good. Both now support UTF-8 file encoding.
[1] http://www.editpadpro.comTry TextPad [1]. It's the best.
- Huge files can be edited, up to the limits of 32-bit virtual memory. See Specifications for the actual limits.
And then per the [Specifications]
[1] http://www.textpad.com/products/textpad/features.html
- It can handle file sizes up to the largest contiguous chunk of 32-bit virtual memory.
- The number of concurrent edits is limited by available Windows resources.
I used to like pepper [1] for this purpose. It's a little hard to find the abandoned windows port, and harder still to get it registered, though I managed about 2 years ago to contact Hekkelman about it. One of the features is that it does not load the whole file into memory.
[1] http://eriksrailnews.com/pepper/If you only want to view a section of a file, then you can use the following command in a DOS window.
type reallylargefile.txt | more
This will display file at a screen full at a time.
EmEditor [1] is basically built for huge files. It's never balked at anything I'm thrown at it!
[1] http://www.emeditor.com/Use FileSplitter [1] to break the file into smaller files, and then use your favorite text editor!
Description: The File Splitter is a free Windows program that will split any file into pieces of any size and later combine the pieces to form the original file.
[1] http://www.dekabyte.com/filesplitter/Assuming you only need to read the file, Microsoft's Windows 2003 resource kit [1] includes list.exe.
[1] http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=17657One approach is to break the giant file into smaller files. You can do that with Chainsaw [1]. It takes a file of any size and outputs a bunch of smaller files from it.
[1] http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/GS-Chainsaw.shtmlOne very good editor for large files is Programmer's File Editor [1]. I use it to ope files bigger than 15GB.
[1] http://download.cnet.com/Programmer-s-File-Editor-32-bit/3000-2352_4-10002157.html