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SPLIT(1) General Commands Manual SPLIT(1)

splitsplit a file into pieces

split [-a suffix_length]
[-b byte_count[k|m] | -l line_count | -p pattern] [file [name]]

The split utility reads the given file, or standard input if no file is specified, and breaks it up into files of 1000 lines each. file itself is not altered.

The options are as follows:

suffix_length
Use suffix_length letters to form the suffix of the file name (see below). The default suffix length is 2.
byte_count[k|m]
Create 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.
line_count
Create files line_count lines in length.
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 name 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 the name argument is not specified, the file is split into lexically ordered files named with the prefixes ‘x’, ‘y’, and ‘z’.

The split utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

csplit(1), re_format(7)

The split utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.

The flag [-p], as well as the ‘y’ and ‘z’ prefixes in the absence of a name parameter, are an extension to that specification.

A split command appeared in Version 3 AT&T UNIX.

The maximum line length for matching patterns is 65536.

February 28, 2015 OpenBSD-current