How to get all but last 2 lines from text file ?

[Sammy_2]

I have a 2gb text file that vi editor can't open. Need a command (tail/head, sed, etc) that will parse the file so I get all the lines except the last 2 lines in the file.

[MattJ123 · Accepted solution]

make a shell script:

#!/usr/bin/ksh
COUNT=`cat filename | wc -l`
MINUS=$(($COUNT-2))
head -n $MINUS filename

[Tom Danzig]

awk '{z=y;y=x;x=$0;if(NR>2){print z}}' filename

[Steven E. Protter]

numline=$(cat filename | wc -l)
(( numline = numline - 2))

counter=1

while read -r filedata
do
if [ $counter = $numline ]
then
exit 0
else
# do something with data
fi
(( counter = counter + 1)) #increment
done < filename

[Kent Ostby]

depending on the max length of a line (awk wont handle everything), you could do:

awk '{count++}count outputfile

Best regards,

Oz

[TwoProc]

Hey Matt (cousin?),

I've noticed in files that are unusually large, the head & tail commands kind of just poop-out on you. Meaning I've noticed that they generally can't handle more than "some number" of lines - but I forget how many -but I've run into it. On the other hand on small(ish) files I've used your approach often.

So, I'll have to go with S. Protter's suggestion...

[Gerhard Roets]

Hi Sam

Install vim :P. It is free and it handles big files a tad better.

Regards
Gerhard

[Marlou Everson]

Another way:

cnt=$(cat infile | wc -l)
(( cnt = cnt - 2 ))
awk -v count=$cnt 'NR <= count {print $0}' infile > outfile

Marlou

[Sammy_2]

thanks to all. Used Matthew simple script since it is easiest to understand. Like Tom, Marlou and Kent's awk way of doing thing. Will Try Steve script as well. Am sure works. Not too fan of VIM since I only do this once in a blue moon.