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I need to extract the last line from a number of very large (several hundred megabyte) text files to get certain data. Currently, I am using python to cycle through all the lines until the file is empty and then I process the last line returned, but I am certain there is a more efficient way to do this.
What is the best way to retrieve just the last line of a text file using python?
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Use seekg to jump to the end of the file, then read back until you find the first newline.
Use the tail command to write the file specified by the File parameter to standard output beginning at a specified point. This displays the last 10 lines of the accounts file. The tail command continues to display lines as they are added to the accounts file.
Not the straight forward way, but probably much faster than a simple Python implementation:
line = subprocess.check_output(['tail', '-1', filename]) 
with open('output.txt', 'r') as f: lines = f.read().splitlines() last_line = lines[-1] print last_line If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
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