Is there a text editor for very big files?

Question

I have a very big text file (10 GB). Both Notepad and Notepad++ 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.

score 43 · Accepted Answer · edited May 11 '24 at 22:31

43

If you only need to read the file, I can suggest Large Text File Viewer.

edited May 11 '24 at 22:31

ozkanpakdil

215

answered Sep 03 '09 at 06:11

Natrium

448

score 38 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

Stack Overflow ref Text editor to open big (giant, huge, large) text files.

Vim is a personal favorite.

However, if you are working with timestamped entries in log file, it's easier to filter for a date range and look at smaller files.
With other kinds of larger files, you could cut out specific line-number ranges (tools like sed and grep) to smaller files and analyze individually
If it's some specific translation or searching to do, again sed, grep, etc. are good tools.

score 17 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 05:31

UltraEdit 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.

It's not free, however.

Otherwise, you can use the Unix split utility from the command line - should be included in Cygwin or the Linux command line tools for Windows. You'll have much better luck dealing with the files if you've split them up into smaller chunks.

score 12 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 03 '09 at 06:17

12

The best one I tried was V - The File Viewer, 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).

answered Sep 03 '09 at 06:17

harrymc

498,455

score 12 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 06 '09 at 14:15

EmEditor 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! "

score 10 · Answer 6 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 05:35

10

Total Commander's lister can open very large files for reading. For editing you might also use some kind of Hex editor (like the free HxD), they can usually open and edit large files.

edited Oct 18 '11 at 05:35

Peter Mortensen

12,326

answered Sep 07 '09 at 12:33

SztupY

283

score 7 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 03 '09 at 06:48

The 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 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.

score 7 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 06 '09 at 12:56

7

I've had luck with TextPad on files 2 GB in size with less ram than that, it takes a while to load up, but it works.

answered Sep 06 '09 at 12:56

Kev

1,184

score 5 · Answer 9 · edited Dec 12 '12 at 09:35

I have developed a Unicode editor called GigaEdit 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.

score 3 · Answer 10 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 08:16

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.

score 3 · Answer 11 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 08:17

3

I'll suggest gVim which can open such a huge file.

edited Oct 18 '11 at 08:17

Peter Mortensen

12,326

answered Oct 31 '10 at 09:34

TusharG

1,422

score 3 · Answer 12 · answered Sep 07 '09 at 18:02

For 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.:

score 3 · Answer 13 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 08:06

I would recommend VEDIT. 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.

score 2 · Answer 14 · answered Sep 06 '09 at 11:36

2

You can also try Bare Tail

http://www.baremetalsoft.com/baretail

answered Sep 06 '09 at 11:36

score 2 · Answer 15 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 05:36

2

I edited a file of 7 GB with PilotEdit. But it may take you an hour to open/save a 10 GB file. After you open the file, you can edit it quickly.

edited Oct 18 '11 at 05:36

Peter Mortensen

12,326

answered Oct 20 '09 at 03:59

draco

21

score 1 · Answer 16 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 08:09

1

Under Windows, I use EditPad Pro from Just Great Software (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.

edited Oct 18 '11 at 08:09

Peter Mortensen

12,326

answered May 06 '10 at 23:59

jfmessier

2,810

score 0 · Answer 17 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 08:06

0

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.

edited Oct 18 '11 at 08:06

Peter Mortensen

12,326

answered Mar 31 '10 at 02:56

ggonsalv

361

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Jul 30 '10 at 17:58

0

EmEditor is basically built for huge files. It's never balked at anything I'm thrown at it!

answered Jul 30 '10 at 17:58

EJP

41

score 0 · Answer 19 · edited Nov 23 '12 at 11:35

0

Use FileSplitter 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.

edited Nov 23 '12 at 11:35

Dave

25,513

answered May 02 '11 at 16:18

score 0 · Answer 20 · edited Aug 06 '12 at 18:31

0

Try TextPad. 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]

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.

edited Aug 06 '12 at 18:31

Mokubai

95,412

answered Sep 06 '09 at 21:15

score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Sep 06 '09 at 21:27

I used to like pepper 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.

score 0 · Answer 22 · answered Jan 01 '12 at 00:21

0

Assuming you only need to read the file, Microsoft's Windows 2003 resource kit includes list.exe.

answered Jan 01 '12 at 00:21

Harry Johnston

5,914
8
34
58

score 0 · Answer 23 · answered Sep 06 '12 at 20:52

0

One approach is to break the giant file into smaller files. You can do that with Chainsaw. It takes a file of any size and outputs a bunch of smaller files from it.

answered Sep 06 '12 at 20:52

Nick Gotch

157

score 0 · Answer 24 · answered May 29 '13 at 10:08

0

One very good editor for large files is Programmer's File Editor. I use it to ope files bigger than 15GB.

answered May 29 '13 at 10:08

Kevdog777

447

Is there a text editor for very big files?

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