Large-Scale Text Editing

Overview

This skill provides guidance for efficiently transforming large text files containing thousands to millions of lines. It covers strategies for understanding transformation requirements, designing efficient solutions (particularly with Vim macros), testing approaches, and verification techniques.

When to Use This Skill

• Transforming CSV, TSV, or other delimited files at scale
• Applying repetitive edits across files with millions of rows
• Working within keystroke or operation count constraints
• Using Vim macros, sed, awk, or similar batch processing tools
• Pattern-based text transformations requiring regex

Approach Strategy

Phase 1: Understand the Transformation

Before writing any transformation logic: