What is Large Text File Viewer?
A large text file viewer is a specialized software program designed for viewing and analyzing very large text files that standard text editors struggle to handle. These viewers can open text files that are hundreds of megabytes or even gigabytes in size with little performance penalty.
Key capabilities provided by large text file viewers include:
- Fast loading and navigation - Quickly jump to any line number or text string location without waiting for the entire file to load.
- Text searching - Rapidly search for words or patterns within gigantic text files.
- Syntax highlighting - Color coding for source code files like XML, JSON, Python. Makes important elements stand out.
- Line numbers - Display of line numbers along side the text to ease code analysis.
- Comparison - Side-by-side or inline comparisons between two file versions.
- Shareable bookmarks - Bookmark lines or sections then generate shareable links.
- Offline access - Ability to access files without an internet connections.
Common uses cases for large text file viewers include inspecting website server logs, analyzing raw database exports, reviewing revision histories for code repositories, and studying huge XML or JSON datasets. Popular tools in this category include LogExpert, UltraEdit, and NotePad++.