Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jpl-devvax!lwall
From: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: size limit for sed -f ?
Message-ID: <8724@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: 13 Jul 90 23:17:50 GMT
References: <24929.269ba943@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <7110@star.cs.vu.nl>
Reply-To: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 20

In article <7110@star.cs.vu.nl> maart@cs.vu.nl (Maarten Litmaath) writes:
: In article <24929.269ba943@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>,
: 	arritt@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
: )Is there a limit to the size of the modification file that can be used
: )with sed?  (Not the source file, but the file containing the sed commands.)
: 
: Yes.  Even under POSIX there are still (lower) limits, though fairly high.
: You have to divide your script into (orthogonal) parts and invoke sed a
: couple of times in a pipeline:
: 
: 	sed -f script1.sed input_file | sed -f script2.sed | ...

Well, that's one way to do it.  Another way is to run it through the
sed-to-perl translator and execute the resulting Perl script.  Perl doesn't
have such limits.

And it might even run faster.

Larry Wall
lwall@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov