can't see all 20,160 lines in a file when 'cat filename'

dave247 · 10-24-2008, 10:56 AM

So I have a file on a remote server that I am sshing to and it contains exactly 20160 lines -- I know because I did 'wc -l file' -- but when I try to view all the lines by using the cat or vi command, it only displays around 500 lines and then stops. Would this have to do with limitations of the cat command or anything like that?

It might just be that this particular remote server doesnt have much memory or something (it is a VERY OLD box), but I'm not sure if that matters in this case.

Any thoughts?

estabroo · 10-24-2008, 12:12 PM

probably an XOFF character in the stream (typically ctrl-S), that'll cause the terminal to stop output until it gets XON (typically ctrl-Q)

dave247 · 10-24-2008, 02:23 PM

im not sure what that means estabroo

Disillusionist · 10-24-2008, 03:20 PM

What estabroo is saying, is that you should look at the contents of the file, around the last line that is displayed. it probably contains a special character that is turning off the cat request to print to the screen.

Make a copy of the file, and find the last line that cat produces. Remove the following line and retry, this will tell you if there was a special character, as it should then proceed past the point that it previously failed.

dave247 · 10-25-2008, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disillusionist

What estabroo is saying, is that you should look at the contents of the file, around the last line that is displayed. it probably contains a special character that is turning off the cat request to print to the screen.

Make a copy of the file, and find the last line that cat produces. Remove the following line and retry, this will tell you if there was a special character, as it should then proceed past the point that it previously failed.

Nah, the file is numbers and file names. Theres nothing that should stop it..