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SPLIT(1) General Commands Manual SPLIT(1) NAME split -- split a file into pieces SYNOPSIS split [-cd] [-l line_count] [-a suffix_length] [file [prefix]] split [-cd] -b byte_count[K|k|M|m|G|g] [-a suffix_length] [file [prefix]] split [-cd] -n chunk_count [-a suffix_length] [file [prefix]] split [-cd] -p pattern [-a suffix_length] [file [prefix]] DESCRIPTION The split utility reads the given file and breaks it up into files of 1000 lines each (if no options are specified), leaving the file un- changed. 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|k|M|m|G|g] Create split files byte_count bytes in length. If k or K is appended to the number, the file is split into byte_count kilo- byte pieces. If m or M is appended to the number, the file is split into byte_count megabyte pieces. If g or G is appended to the number, the file is split into byte_count gigabyte pieces. -c Continue creating files and do not overwrite existing output files. -d Use a numeric suffix instead of a alphabetic suffix. -l line_count Create split files line_count lines in length. -n chunk_count Split file into chunk_count smaller files. The first n - 1 files will be of size (size of file / chunk_count ) and the last file will contain the remaining bytes. -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 op- tion 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 speci- fied, two letters are used as the initial suffix. If the output does not fit into the resulting number of files and the -d flag is not spec- ified, then the suffix length is automatically extended as needed such that all output files continue to sort in lexical order. If the prefix argument is not specified, the file is split into lexi- cally ordered files named with the prefix "x" and with suffixes as above. By default, split will overwrite any existing output files. If the -c flag is specified, split will instead create files with names that do not already exist. ENVIRONMENT The LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE and LC_COLLATE environment variables affect the execution of split as described in environ(7). EXIT STATUS The split utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. EXAMPLES Split input into as many files as needed, so that each file contains at most 2 lines: $ echo -e "first line\nsecond line\nthird line\nforth line" | split -l2 Split input in chunks of 10 bytes using numeric prefixes for file names. This generates two files of 10 bytes (x00 and x01) and a third file (x02) with the remaining 2 bytes: $ echo -e "This is 22 bytes long" | split -d -b10 Split input generating 6 files: $ echo -e "This is 22 bytes long" | split -n 6 Split input creating a new file every time a line matches the regular expression for a "t" followed by either "a" or "u" thus creating two files: $ echo -e "stack\nstock\nstuck\nanother line" | split -p 't[au]' SEE ALSO csplit(1), re_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. Before FreeBSD 14, pattern and line matching only operated on lines shorter than 65,536 bytes. FreeBSD 13.2 May 26, 2023 SPLIT(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | ENVIRONMENT | EXIT STATUS | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | HISTORY
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