Question

unix vi editor view a long file - got an error line too long

Asked by: mahjag

Hi unix gurus

I have a file (test.tx) that when I use vi editor it complains cannot open, I needed to view and change as well - how do I do that - more or less or cat commands allow me to see them but I need to modify them as well..

408945 Feb 22 15:00 test.txt

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2008-02-22 at 07:11:24ID23184655
Topics

vi

,

Unix Operating Systems

Participating Experts
3
Points
50
Comments
6

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. vi and using a sed command
    When I map a drive to my home directory in unix and pull a file up with wordpad or word a ^N is added to each end line of the file when I open it again with vi. I tried a global subsitution sed comand s/\^N/ /g. The intent of this statement is to substitute the ^N with a bl...
  2. vi problem
    hi experts, i am new to vi, and have the following questions: 1. suppose my file have two columns with delimiter of " ", how can i change the order of these two columns? 2. suppose my file: #xyz #yyy xxx xxx yyy #xxx #yyy how can i add # in front of xxx xxx yyy ...
  3. Editing binary files in VI
    I'm using VI to do a quick search-and-replace on a binary file containing random access data. It appears that when I edit the file via VI, it adds one byte of data at the end of the file, and this corrupts my database. Is there any way to avoid this? Also, is there a keybo...
  4. vi question
    I now open a vi instance from a shell script with vi $base_dir/conf/package_repository.perl +/$package_name which openswhere it finds $package_name then I do '15dd' then ':wq' and go on. Is there a way to automate this '15dd' followed by a ':wq'. I think there's a way to ...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: kosarajudeepakPosted on 2008-02-22 at 08:03:40ID: 20958598

 

by: mahjagPosted on 2008-02-22 at 08:13:36ID: 20958727

I am so much used to vi  - I have not tired emacs -

 

by: kosarajudeepakPosted on 2008-02-22 at 08:20:18ID: 20958805

do u have GUI r only Console based. If you have GUI u have many option to play with, U have GnomeTExteditor.

 Are try the other way
cat text.tx > test
vi test

 

by: sjm_eePosted on 2008-02-22 at 14:49:41ID: 20962365

what is result of "wc -L test.txt"?

 

by: mahjagPosted on 2008-02-22 at 15:00:09ID: 20962451

wc -l gives 23624 as result

cat test.txt> test and vi test also gives long cannot open message

 

by: vikaskhoriaPosted on 2008-02-28 at 04:17:57ID: 21002942

HI there are certain limitation in vi editor. And as any other editor.
This is also reasonable that if you are editing any file, there a limit of the size of file.

 vi Editor Limitations (Source on Net)
The following list provides the maximum limits of the vi editor. These counts assume single-byte characters.

{LINE_MAX} characters per line
256 characters per global command list
128 characters in the previously inserted and deleted text
128 characters in a shell escape command
128 characters in a string-valued option
30 characters in a tag name
128 map macros with 2048 characters total
1,048,560 lines of {LINE_MAX} characters per line silently enforced

In this case try wrapping the file. So that lines are wrapped and vi can edit that file.
My advice is to look around for a utility or script that will wrap the file at something like 80 bytes or so ( or one that will allow you to specify the wrap length ).

Also if the error says its a long FILE then u can try splitting the file editing and then combining it again?

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...