[R] Manage huge database

[Barry Rowlingson]

2008/9/22 José E. Lozano <lozalojo at jcyl.es>:

> Recently I have been trying to open a huge database with no success.
>
> It's a 4GB csv plain text file with around 2000 rows and over 500,000
> columns/variables.

 I wouldn't call a 4GB csv text file a 'database'.

> Is there any way to work with "parts" (a set of columns) of this database,
> since its impossible to manage it all at once?

 Yes, use a database. A real database.

> Is there any way to establish a link to the csv file and to state the
> columns you want to fetch every time you make an analysis?

 No, but you can establish a link to a database. You want a database.
A real relational database.

> I've been searching the net, but found little about this topic.

Try:
http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-data.html#Relational-databases

Barry