This blog is originated from stackoverflow.com
Step 1: head -n filename > newfile // get the first n lines into newfile,e.g. n =5
Step 2: Get the huge file size, A
Step 3: Get the newfile size,B
Step 4: (A/B)*n is approximately equal to the exact line count.
Set n to be different values,done a few times more, then get the average.