On Unix-like operating systems, bfs is a modified version of the ed editor that is read-only, and designed to process large files.

Description

bfs loads, views and analyzes very large text files. It does not load the text into a buffer, and does not allow the contents to be modified.

bfs is considered a Unix heirloom (legacy) program, and may not be available for installation by your operating system’s package manager.

  • Description
  • Syntax
  • Options
  • Examples
  • Related commands
  • Linux commands help

The intended use of bfs is to examine a file to determine where it can be split into smaller files using csplit. The more manageable pieces can then be edited with ed.

Syntax

bfs [ - ] file name

Options

Examples

bfs myfile.txt

Loads and displays the file myfile.txt.

ed — A simple text editor.csplit — Split files based on a defined context.