Q23609: File Size Limitations for the Microsoft Editor

Article: Q23609
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 1.00   | 1.00
Operating System(s): MS-DOS | OS/2
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | TAR62237 | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 29-AUG-1988

Question:

What is the largest file the Microsoft Editor can load?

Response:

The size of the file is controlled by the operating system, not by
the editor. The editor will read in a file of any number of bytes;
however, you are limited by the temporary file space.

The size of the drive pointed to by the TMP variable is the limiting
factor. Because TMP often points to a (relatively small) RAM drive,
such as VDISK or MS-RAMDRIVE, this is the most common file size
limitation.

A safe rule-of-thumb is that your TMP drive may need to be up to
two times the size of the file being edited.

The maximum number of lines a file can contain is 0x7FFFFFFF, but you
will run out of disk space before you have too many lines.

Both MS-DOS and OS/2 currently limit disk size (hence, file size)
to 64K sectors, which normally is 32 megabytes.

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