How could i open big database files

Question

T have query related to opening big sql file. I am trying to open big SQl but every time i tried to open this file in text editor system stops working or start hanging. I used

File size : 4 GB
Operating System :  Ubuntu
Text Editor : Sublime and Gedit

My question is that how could i open such big database files?

[Vim](http://www.vim.org/) should have no issue dealing with such file size. — Jean-Karim Bockstael, Sep 22 '14 at 07:54
How about to extract first several lines of data from big file using "head" command, then open it by usual editor? Anyway you never able to browse 4 billions of characters at once, so try to read a part of that. — Fumu 7, Sep 22 '14 at 07:58
Why do you want to open such a big file? If you want to restore a backup you should use the command propmt to restore it. It will work smooth. — JCalcines, Sep 22 '14 at 08:00
If the databese file is a text file which separate lines by newline, create a file which contains first 10 lines of database file by the command "head -10 database-file > a.txt". You can browse a.txt much easier then 4GB file. — Fumu 7, Sep 22 '14 at 08:17
@DeepakMankotia Do you know exactly what are the changes you need? I recommend you to add some sql queries at the end for doing the changes. — JCalcines, Sep 22 '14 at 08:20
Oh! you can't change the schema name. So, your best option is Vim. Most of the other text editor load the whole file in memory for editing it. — JCalcines, Sep 22 '14 at 09:43

Borislav Gizdov · Answer 1 · 2023-05-17T11:38:13.593

When dealing with large files, the most effective tool for the job is typically Vim as others answered in the comments.

You can use Neovim, which is an improved version of Vim, which is an improved version of Vi :) Check it out at https://neovim.io/
For GUI version you can use gvim https://www.vim.org/download.php
glogg - glogg is a multi-platform GUI application to browse and search through long or complex log files. It is designed with programmers and system administrators in mind. glogg can be seen as a graphical, interactive combination of grep and less. https://glogg.bonnefon.org/
WindEdit A high-performance text editor for huge files and long line - https://github.com/kingToolbox/WindEdit
Notepad++ plugin for viewing and editing very large files https://github.com/molsonkiko/HugeFiles
For more editors for huge files check this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/159537/1278463

Vim is a good program but it's an absolute monster to actually use. Good call for Neovim and/or GUI Vim... — Martin, May 10 '23 at 09:44
Yes, Vim is not suitable for everyone as it requires learning a significant number of shortcuts and commands. For instance, you can easily delete a range of lines in a large file using the command :[from],[to]d. — Borislav Gizdov, May 10 '23 at 11:34

How could i open big database files

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