# How do I edit a 630MB file? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956 "2004-08-22T07:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![larsenmtl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@larsenmtl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larsenmtl)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956/21 "2004-08-22T20:06:13Z")
> [@tygerbryght](#): > > I looked at the information on the site, and a) it plainly doesn’t do as much as NoteTab, b) they don’t have a free version. If there’s information about file sizes, I didn’t find it, but NoteTab clearly states it will handle files in excess of 16MB. According to [this site](http://www.mpegx.com/view.php?detail=1862) TextPad is only limited by virtual memory in the size of file it can open. I can somewhat vouch for it. I open 160 meg csv files in it all the time (they load in a matter of seconds, too, on my dual processor PIII 900). ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956/22 "2004-08-22T23:07:19Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I wholeheartedly second UltraEdit. It’s not freeware, but the price is downright cheap for its power and functionality. And working with 630 M file would be no sweat. I view/edit files in the gigabyte range all the time with Ultraedit. It has amazing functionality and is well worth whatever my employer had to pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956/23 "2004-08-23T13:57:41Z")
> [@KRM](#): > > I view/edit files in the gigabyte range all the time with Ultraedit. It has amazing functionality and is well worth whatever my employer had to pay for it. [UE-32 costs $35.00 for a single license](http://www.ultraedit.com/index.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=15), with generous discounts available for purchasing large blicks of licenses (discounts are not on the link above). ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956/24 "2004-08-23T14:55:32Z")
You could try [PFE](http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/steveb/cpaap/pfe/default.htm) Couldn’t hurt to try, and it is totally free. From the readme file > [@](#): > > PFE includes the following features: > > - The size of file it can handle is limited only by the total amount of > virtual memory available > - No arbitrary limit on the number of lines a file can contain ---
**Author:** ![capnfutile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@capnfutile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capnfutile)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956/25 "2004-08-24T05:34:18Z")
Thanks LSLGuy, I’m going to give FIND a try, then grep. I knew if I brought up Linux we’d get a “vi” vs “emacs” thing going. Easy! For text/HTML editing, I like Editplus so much I bought it, but even it seems to choke on this file. What I’ve done on smaller files to find the same info is this: open file delete unwanted lines by date (easy enough) search and replace in a manner that allows me to insert commas before and after the info I’m looking to total (kbytes transferred) save as .csv open in Excel Autototal the column with the kilobytes. A lot of work, but a week quicker than using a calculator. Thanks for your help everybody! capn ---
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956/26 "2004-08-25T04:49:51Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > You could try [PFE](http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/steveb/cpaap/pfe/default.htm) Couldn’t hurt to try, and it is totally free. Will it run okay on XP? ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956/27 "2004-08-25T08:27:46Z")
Will PFE run on XP? Dunno, I don’t see why not. It’s a titchy download, try it and let us know. I hope it does I’m not gonna be on NT forever and I don’t want to have to ftp stuff to a Unix box every time I want to read a 630Meg file 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-edit-a-630mb-file/260956.md?page=1)