Gedcom and line length

Post by **dhwalt** » 20 Dec 2009 09:39

Q. Is it possible within FH4 to specify a maximum gedcom line length?
When using UltraEdit to browse through a .ged I can set a sensible word wrap, say 120 characters, to deal with NOTE/CONC/CONT lines that can be several hundred characters wide (FH4 appears to export at 252 characters/line). It would require lots of scrolling to view those lines at default wrap i.e. 4096 characters. A quick fix is to break long NOTE lines with CONC/CONT but FH4 then rebuilds the line next time it is saved. How do users deal with editing a .ged, outside of FH4, that has excessive line width?

Thanks David

ID:4238

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 20 Dec 2009 10:05

I don't edit my gedcoms often in an editor, I just use an editor when fixing ones to import. Why not just the wordwrap on your Ultra Edit?

Post by **dhwalt** » 20 Dec 2009 14:26

Thanks Jane,
I am using word wrap in UltraEdit to view and edit a ged for importing. The issue was that I was hoping there was a setting hidden somewhere in FH4 that would fix a reasonable line length for export. When text lines disappear off the side of a 26' monitor I hoped FH4 had a preference, or similar, to set a wrap relevant to data input.

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 21 Dec 2009 09:19

The standard line length in Gedcom is 255 characters of which some are used for the tag level and tag ID and line terminators leaving typically around 240 characters for actual data. Since FH sticks the standard very strictly I doubt that it will be changed to support different line lengths. I would raise a wish list request for this and see how it gets supported.

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