SPLIT(1) BSD General Commands Manual SPLIT(1)NAMEsplit — split a file into pieces
SYNOPSISsplit [-a suffix_length] [-b byte_count[k|m]] [-l line_count]
[-p pattern] [file [name]]
DESCRIPTION
The split utility reads the given file and breaks it up into files of
1000 lines each. If file is a single dash (‘-’) or absent, split reads
from the standard input.
The options are as follows:
-a suffix_length
Use suffix_length letters to form the suffix of the file name.
-b byte_count[k|m]
Create smaller files byte_count bytes in length. If “k” is
appended to the number, the file is split into byte_count kilo‐
byte pieces. If “m” is appended to the number, the file is split
into byte_count megabyte pieces.
-l line_count
Create smaller files n lines in length.
-p pattern
The file is split whenever an input line matches pattern, which
is interpreted as an extended regular expression. The matching
line will be the first line of the next output file. This option
is incompatible with the -b and -l options.
If additional arguments are specified, the first is used as the name of
the input file which is to be split. If a second additional argument is
specified, it is used as a prefix for the names of the files into which
the file is split. In this case, each file into which the file is split
is named by the prefix followed by a lexically ordered suffix using
suffix_length characters in the range “a-z”. If -a is not specified, two
letters are used as the suffix.
If the name argument is not specified, the file is split into lexically
ordered files named with prefix “x” and with suffixes as above.
SEE ALSOre_format(7)STANDARDS
The split utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”).
HISTORY
A split command appeared in Version 3 AT&T UNIX.
BUGS
The maximum line length for matching patterns is 65536.
BSD April 16, 1994 BSD
