vi editor file limitation 4886
There are several common implementations of the "vi" standard:
o vim o nvi o elvis o vile
On comp.os.linux.misc, in What a bunch of crap. 10's of thousands of people, including most of unix-linux pros...
The original "vi" editor at Berkeley was copyright-encumbered at the time, and would be of only historical interest, anyway. (The "vi" in Solaris might very well be primordial vi, which would be hideous but
Probably, the "vi" you encounter on a Linux system will be either nvi (small, light, bug-for-bug compatible with the primordial editor) or vim (larger, quite powerful, includes some small changes from original vi behaviour even when run in "compatibility mode").
vim's maximum file size is limited only by the size of C long-integer variables on the hosting system. Therefore, on 32-bit Unixes (e.g., Linux i686 distributions), the maximum file size is 2147483647 bytes (2 Gbyte). On 64-bit Unixes (e.g., Linux x8664 distributions), the maximum file size is so staggeringly huge that it's not even worth thinking about -- probably 4 terabytes (guesstimating).
Of course, the file buffer size is also limited by how much disk space is available for vim's work-session swapfile.
What's the corresponding limit for nvi, you ask? I'm not sure (I like
Er, the correct tool depends on what you're wanting to do, doesn't it? For some tasks, sed or awk is the perfect tool for the task, especially if it's to become scripted.
As others have mentioned,usr-bin-split is ultra-reliable and fast.