root@libove.UUCP (Jay M. Libove) (10/08/88)
On SCO Xenix 80286 version 2.2.1 the "ex" editor has a limit on the maximum filesize it can edit - NOT the system ulimit, not running out of space on /tmp, simply that "ex" stops reading at a certain point. The file I was working with is a 14000 line, 450Kbyte file, a list of all the files on my system. Yes, I know, I'm crazy for wanting to edit that big a file; yes, I know I can do the same thing with sed; but yes I also know that this would be the simplest way for me to do what I want to (edit out certain files so I get a valid list of files to back up). Any suggestions on increasing that limit, or information as to why it imposed at all? Thanks in advance -- Jay Libove ARPA: jl42@andrew.cmu.edu or libove@cs.cmu.edu 5731 Centre Ave, Apt 3 BITnet: jl42@andrew or jl42@drycas Pittsburgh, PA 15206 UUCP: uunet!nfsun!libove!libove or (412) 362-8983 UUCP: psuvax1!pitt!darth!libove!libove
debra@alice.UUCP (Paul De Bra) (10/11/88)
In article <173@libove.UUCP> root@libove.UUCP (Jay M. Libove) writes: > >On SCO Xenix 80286 version 2.2.1 the "ex" editor has a limit on the >maximum filesize it can edit - NOT the system ulimit, not running out >of space on /tmp, simply that "ex" stops reading at a certain point. > >The file I was working with is a 14000 line, 450Kbyte file, a list of >all the files on my system. > Vi keeps a list of pointers to disk-blocks in its temporary file. The size of the temporary file is thus limited. This also means that with a smaller file you can run out of temp-file-blocks after some amount of editing. Saving the file and restarting vi works in that case. The 450 Kbyte however will not fit in the temp file. Paul. -- |-------------------------- |debra@research.att.com | |uunet!research!debra | |--------------------------
skrenta@eecs.nwu.edu (Richard Skrenta) (10/11/88)
No, you're not crazy for wanting to edit a file that big. I had the Ed wiped out lots of my work before I figured out what was going on--no message, no warning--it just chopped off everything at about about 100K. To get around this, try using split [filename]. It will turn your file into a lot of smaller files, called xaa, xab, xac, and so on. You can edit these smaller files and then chunk them back into one big one with cat x* > original.name Hope this helps
james@bigtex.cactus.org (James Van Artsdalen) (10/15/88)
In <173@libove.UUCP>, root@libove.UUCP (Jay M. Libove) wrote: > The file I was working with is a 14000 line, 450Kbyte file, a list of > all the files on my system. > Yes, I know, I'm crazy for wanting to edit that big a file; I've edited my history file on several occasions, and have made manual repairs to a customer database (maybe 4meg of text) by converting to text, editing, then converting back. GNU emacs works fine for this. I understand GNU emacs does not behave well above 6meg though. -- James R. Van Artsdalen james@bigtex.cactus.org "Live Free or Die" Home: 512-346-2444 Work: 338-8789 9505 Arboretum Blvd Austin TX 78759