[BangPypers] How to handle files efficiently in python

[Noufal Ibrahim]

On Tue, Mar 22 2011, brijithp at gmail.com wrote:

> Hi All,
>         How can I print last five lines of a file using python. The file may
> contain thousands of lines each line may differ in length.

[...]

You'd have to use some kind of heuristic (a.k.a. dirty hack). Stat the
file to find it's size and use an "average" length of line to go a few
lines back. Then count the number of newlines from there to the end. If
it's 4, then you have your 5 lines. Otherwise, seek back a little more
and repeat. 

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