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PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | OPERANDS | STDIN | INPUT FILES | ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES | ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS | STDOUT | STDERR | OUTPUT FILES | EXTENDED DESCRIPTION | EXIT STATUS | CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS | APPLICATION USAGE | EXAMPLES | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT |
SPLIT(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual SPLIT(1P)
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux
implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or
the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
split — split files into pieces
split [−l line_count] [−a suffix_length] [file[name]]
split −b n[k|m] [−a suffix_length] [file[name]]
The split utility shall read an input file and write one or more
output files. The default size of each output file shall be 1000
lines. The size of the output files can be modified by specification
of the −b or −l options. Each output file shall be created with a
unique suffix. The suffix shall consist of exactly suffix_length
lowercase letters from the POSIX locale. The letters of the suffix
shall be used as if they were a base-26 digit system, with the first
suffix to be created consisting of all 'a' characters, the second
with a 'b' replacing the last 'a', and so on, until a name of all 'z'
characters is created. By default, the names of the output files
shall be 'x', followed by a two-character suffix from the character
set as described above, starting with "aa", "ab", "ac", and so on,
and continuing until the suffix "zz", for a maximum of 676 files.
If the number of files required exceeds the maximum allowed by the
suffix length provided, such that the last allowable file would be
larger than the requested size, the split utility shall fail after
creating the last file with a valid suffix; split shall not delete
the files it created with valid suffixes. If the file limit is not
exceeded, the last file created shall contain the remainder of the
input file, and may be smaller than the requested size.
The split utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
POSIX.1‐2008, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
The following options shall be supported:
−a suffix_length
Use suffix_length letters to form the suffix portion of the
filenames of the split file. If −a is not specified, the
default suffix length shall be two. If the sum of the name
operand and the suffix_length option-argument would create
a filename exceeding {NAME_MAX} bytes, an error shall
result; split shall exit with a diagnostic message and no
files shall be created.
−b n Split a file into pieces n bytes in size.
−b nk Split a file into pieces n*1024 bytes in size.
−b nm Split a file into pieces n*1048576 bytes in size.
−l line_count
Specify the number of lines in each resulting file piece.
The line_count argument is an unsigned decimal integer. The
default is 1000. If the input does not end with a
<newline>, the partial line shall be included in the last
output file.
The following operands shall be supported:
file The pathname of the ordinary file to be split. If no input
file is given or file is '−', the standard input shall be
used.
name The prefix to be used for each of the files resulting from
the split operation. If no name argument is given, 'x'
shall be used as the prefix of the output files. The
combined length of the basename of prefix and suffix_length
cannot exceed {NAME_MAX} bytes. See the OPTIONS section.
See the INPUT FILES section.
Any file can be used as input.
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of
split:
LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions
volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization
Variables for the precedence of internationalization
variables used to determine the values of locale
categories.)
LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of
all the other internationalization variables.
LC_CTYPE Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte
as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input
files).
LC_MESSAGES
Determine the locale that should be used to affect the
format and contents of diagnostic messages written to
standard error.
NLSPATH Determine the location of message catalogs for the
processing of LC_MESSAGES.
Default.
Not used.
The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
The output files contain portions of the original input file;
otherwise, unchanged.
None.
The following exit values shall be returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
Default.
The following sections are informative.
None.
In the following examples foo is a text file that contains 5000
lines.
1. Create five files, xaa, xab, xac, xad, and xae:
split foo
2. Create five files, but the suffixed portion of the created files
consists of three letters, xaaa, xaab, xaac, xaad, and xaae:
split −a 3 foo
3. Create three files with four-letter suffixes and a supplied
prefix, bar_aaaa, bar_aaab, and bar_aaac:
split −a 4 −l 2000 foo bar_
4. Create as many files as are necessary to contain at most 20*1024
bytes, each with the default prefix of x and a five-letter
suffix:
split −a 5 −b 20k foo
The −b option was added to provide a mechanism for splitting files
other than by lines. While most uses of the −b option are for
transmitting files over networks, some believed it would have
additional uses.
The −a option was added to overcome the limitation of being able to
create only 676 files.
Consideration was given to deleting this utility, using the rationale
that the functionality provided by this utility is available via the
csplit utility (see csplit(1p)). Upon reconsideration of the purpose
of the User Portability Utilities option, it was decided to retain
both this utility and the csplit utility because users use both
utilities and have historical expectations of their behavior.
Furthermore, the splitting on byte boundaries in split cannot be
duplicated with the historical csplit.
The text ``split shall not delete the files it created with valid
suffixes'' would normally be assumed, but since the related utility,
csplit, does delete files under some circumstances, the historical
behavior of split is made explicit to avoid misinterpretation.
Earlier versions of this standard allowed a −line_count option. This
form is no longer specified by POSIX.1‐2008 but may be present in
some implementations.
None.
csplit(1p)
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Chapter 8, Environment
Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information
Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open
Group Base Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open
Group. (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1
applied.) In the event of any discrepancy between this version and
the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original
Standard can be obtained online at http://www.unix.org/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the
source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group 2013 SPLIT(1P)
Pages that refer to this page: csplit(1p)