Truncate head of file in Python

Question

How to truncate x bytes of the head file ? I have a log which has 5 GB and I want to cut first 3 GB ( remove old information) .

possible duplicate of [How to delete parts of a file in python?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4692065/how-to-delete-parts-of-a-file-in-python) — Mikael Ohlson, Apr 29 '15 at 08:34

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 29 '15 at 08:34

4

Use the seek method:

fname = 'bigfile.log'
fid = open(fname, "rb")
fid.seek(3 * (2 ** 30) , 0) # go to the ~(3*10^9)th Byte, with respect to the start
Buffer = fid.read(2 * (2 ** 30))

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answered Apr 29 '15 at 08:34

dobkind

416
4
10

Is it efficient to load 2 GB to RAM? – sweet_sugar Apr 29 '15 at 08:47
I think it is not efficient. The intention was to demonstrate how to access a specific byte in the file. If it was up to me , I would read the file using a loop. – dobkind Apr 29 '15 at 08:59

Truncate head of file in Python

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