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SPLIT(1)                  BSD General Commands Manual                 SPLIT(1)

NAME
     split -- split a file into pieces

SYNOPSIS
     split [-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 kilobyte 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 the
     prefix ``x'' and with suffixes as above.

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.

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.

BUGS
     The maximum line length for matching patterns is 65536.

BSD                             August 21, 2005                            BSD