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Can someone suggest an editor for macOS with smart text algorithms to allow work on unlimited file size or line length? I need to view unlimited text, switch be

Can someone suggest an editor for macOS with smart text algorithms to allow work on unlimited file size or line length? I need to view unlimited text, switch between encodings (including hex) and I want editor with proper algorithms, so it'll work instantly and without loading entire file in the memory. Should support search with fast regex engine. Editing would be nice too. I imagine editing as a sequence of actions that editor remembers and can undo/redo (including search/replace) and saving is actually applying that sequence of actions to the original file in some smart way. Also I want it to start instantly, so I can use it as my general text file editor. Colours, autocompletions and other nonsense is strictly not needed. Just black text on white background. All those editors just die when I'm trying to edit a simple file of several hundreds GBs with lines of several GBs.

xrayarx 4y ago
I‘d use vim. It’s already preinstalled. For this usecase you should also consider the various command line utilities like sed, awk, grep
xrayarx 4y ago
I would suggest to post your question as a „ask hn“. More people would see your questions this way
- generalizations 4y ago
  There's been a lot of Ask HN's recently. It'd be nice to have fewer.
- spicybright 4y ago
  I would like that too. I'm sure lots of posters will have excellent suggestions.
globalnode 4y ago
I'd also love something that works in this situation. I've been contemplating writing something that does this for a while now but it would take a fair bit of work for the fringe cases where I'd actually need it, so it hasnt been written yet :(
taf2 4y ago
Does vi maybe help in this case?
acdibble 4y ago
HexFiend (https://hexfiend.com/ https://hexfiend.com/) works well for files of enormous size but is only a hex editor.
foresto 4y ago
It has been so long since I last used an editor that could handle very large files or long lines, that I'm struggling to remember one. Maybe SlickEdit? The Forte Agent newsreader? The Scintilla editor widget is the cross-platform core of several good code editors, but I don't think it qualifies in this area. I hope someone chimes in with an answer on any OS.
kenferry 4y ago
You want BBEdit
- KerrAvon 4y ago
  Ken is correct. IIRC, the very first version of BBEdit back in 1991(?) could handle files significantly larger than memory (on a system without memory mapping, no less).
- vbezhenar 4y ago
  I just opened 1.5GB binary file and it ate 2.5GB RAM according to Activity Monitor. I tried to open 20GB single line text file and it started to eat RAM. I killed it at 60GB as I only have 64GB RAM. So at least modern version does not seem to work well with big files. vim does not seem to work either.
HaroldPD 4y ago
Epsilon https://www.lugaru.com/ https://www.lugaru.com/ Comes sufficiently close to be worth testing the free trial. I don't know the file size limit, but it handles multi-GB files. Does not fulfil the hex requirement. Recognizes and edits binary files but is not a hex editor. The previously suggested https://hexfiend.com/ https://hexfiend.com/ looks better for that. Unlimited line length, and can either horizontally scroll long lines or wrap them for display purposes. Fast regex. Unlimited undo/redo, including search/replace.
323 4y ago
UltraEdit > UltraEdit's file handling is designed to prevent it from using all the available memory, which would stop other applications from running. What does this mean to you? UltraEdit has no real limit on file size - and can easily open, edit, and save large text files in excess of 4 GB! https://www.ultraedit.com/support/tutorials-power-tips/ultraedit/large-file-handling.html https://www.ultraedit.com/support/tutorials-power-tips/ultra...

xrayarx 4y ago

I‘d use vim. It’s already preinstalled. For this usecase you should also consider the various command line utilities like sed, awk, grep

xrayarx 4y ago

I would suggest to post your question as a „ask hn“. More people would see your questions this way

generalizations 4y ago
There's been a lot of Ask HN's recently. It'd be nice to have fewer.
spicybright 4y ago
I would like that too. I'm sure lots of posters will have excellent suggestions.

globalnode 4y ago

I'd also love something that works in this situation. I've been contemplating writing something that does this for a while now but it would take a fair bit of work for the fringe cases where I'd actually need it, so it hasnt been written yet :(

taf2 4y ago

Does vi maybe help in this case?

acdibble 4y ago

HexFiend (https://hexfiend.com/ https://hexfiend.com/) works well for files of enormous size but is only a hex editor.

foresto 4y ago

It has been so long since I last used an editor that could handle very large files or long lines, that I'm struggling to remember one. Maybe SlickEdit? The Forte Agent newsreader? The Scintilla editor widget is the cross-platform core of several good code editors, but I don't think it qualifies in this area. I hope someone chimes in with an answer on any OS.

kenferry 4y ago

You want BBEdit

KerrAvon 4y ago
Ken is correct. IIRC, the very first version of BBEdit back in 1991(?) could handle files significantly larger than memory (on a system without memory mapping, no less).
vbezhenar 4y ago
I just opened 1.5GB binary file and it ate 2.5GB RAM according to Activity Monitor. I tried to open 20GB single line text file and it started to eat RAM. I killed it at 60GB as I only have 64GB RAM. So at least modern version does not seem to work well with big files. vim does not seem to work either.

HaroldPD 4y ago

Epsilon https://www.lugaru.com/ https://www.lugaru.com/ Comes sufficiently close to be worth testing the free trial. I don't know the file size limit, but it handles multi-GB files. Does not fulfil the hex requirement. Recognizes and edits binary files but is not a hex editor. The previously suggested https://hexfiend.com/ https://hexfiend.com/ looks better for that. Unlimited line length, and can either horizontally scroll long lines or wrap them for display purposes. Fast regex. Unlimited undo/redo, including search/replace.

323 4y ago

UltraEdit > UltraEdit's file handling is designed to prevent it from using all the available memory, which would stop other applications from running. What does this mean to you? UltraEdit has no real limit on file size - and can easily open, edit, and save large text files in excess of 4 GB! https://www.ultraedit.com/support/tutorials-power-tips/ultraedit/large-file-handling.html https://www.ultraedit.com/support/tutorials-power-tips/ultra...