How to Open Really Large Text and CSV Files.free software to open large csv files.how to open large csv files.
MS Excel can display 1,048,576 rows. While this may seem like a really large number in normal use, there are many scenarios where this is not enough.
When browsing log files or large datasets, it’s easy to find millions of lines of CSV files or huge text files. Since Excel does not support files of this size, how exactly do you open them? Let’s figure it out.
Why Can Normal Text Editors Not Open Really Large Files?
The computer has gigabytes of memory, so why can’t text editors open large files?
Two factors come into play here. Some applications have a hardcoded limit on the amount of displayed data. It doesn’t matter how much memory your computer has, they just won’t use it.
The second problem is RAM. Many text editors do not have a hard limit on the number of lines, but they cannot display large files due to memory constraints. They load the entire file into system RAM, so if that memory isn’t enough, the process will fail.
Method #1: Using Free Editors
The best way to view very large text files is to use … a text editor. Not just a text editor, but tools for writing code. Such applications can usually handle large files without issue and are free.
A large text file viewer is probably the simplest of these applications. It is really easy to use, fast and requires very few resources. The only drawback? He cannot edit files. But if you only want to view large CSV files, this is the best tool for the job.
For editing large text files, you should also try Emacs. Originally created for Unix systems, it also works great on Windows and can handle large files. Likewise, Neovim and Sublime Text are two lightweight IDEs that can be used to open gigabyte sized CSV text files.
If all you need is to search for data in large log files, then klogg is exactly what you need. An updated version of the popular glogg, this application allows you to easily perform complex searches in huge text files. Since computer generated log files can often contain millions of lines, klogg is designed to handle these file sizes without issue.
Method #2: Split Into Multiple Parts
The problem when trying to open large CSV files is that they are too large. But what if you split them into several smaller files?
This is a popular solution because it usually does not require learning the interface of a new text editor. Instead, you can use one of the many CSV delimiters available on the Internet to split a large file into multiple easily openable files. You can then access each of these files normally.
However, this is not the best way to do it. Splitting a large file can often lead to strange typos or misconfigured files. Moreover, opening each chunk individually prevents filtering of all data at once.
Method #3: Import Into a Database
Text and CSV files up to several gigabytes in size are usually large datasets. So why not just import them into the database?
SQL is the most common database markup language these days. There are many versions of SQL in use, but probably the simplest one is MySQL. And as luck would have it, you can convert the CSV file to a MySQL table.
This is by no means the easiest method for dealing with large CSV files, so we only recommend it if you want to deal with large datasets on a regular basis. If MySQL seems too complicated, you can always import .csv files into MS Access instead.
Method #4: Analyze With Python Libraries
When you’re working with a .csv file containing millions of lines of data, you obviously can’t figure it out manually. You will probably want to filter the data and run specific queries to understand trends.
So why not write some Python code to do this?
Again, this is not the most convenient method. While Python is not the hardest programming language to learn, it is coding, so it might not be the best approach for you. However, if you have to parse really large CSV files on a daily basis, you can automate the task with some Python code.
Method #5:Â With Premium Tools
The text editors we saw in the first method weren’t special tools designed to handle CSV. These were general-purpose tools that could be used to work with large CSV files as well.
What about specialized applications? Are there any apps built to solve this problem?
Actually there is. CSV Explorer, for example, builds on the very process we described in the last two methods (SQL database and Python code) to create an application that can view and edit CSV files of any size. You can do whatever you’d expect from a spreadsheet tool, such as creating graphs or filtering data in CSV Explorer.
Another option is UltraEdit. Unlike the previous tool, this is not only for .csv files, but for any type of text file. It can easily handle text and CSV files up to several gigabytes in size with an interface similar to many of the free editors we discussed earlier.
The only downside to these tools is that they are premium apps and a paid license is required to use them. You can always try their free trials to check their features, or if you only use them once.
What Is the Best Way To Open Large Text and CSV Files?
In this age of big data, it is not uncommon to find gigabyte text files that can be difficult even to view with built-in tools like Notepad or MS Excel. To be able to open such large CSV files, you need to download and use a third party application.how to open large csv files.
If all you need is to view such files, then a large text file viewer is the best choice for you. To actually edit them, you can try a rich text editor like Emacs, or use an additional tool like CSV Explorer.
Techniques such as splitting a CSV file or importing it into a database involve too many steps. If you work with huge text files often, you better get a paid license for a premium dedicated tool.
How to Open Really Large Text and CSV Files
How to Open Really Large Text and CSV Files
free software to open large csv files
free software to open large csv files
how to open large csv files