split(1) split(1)
NAME
split - split a file into pieces
SYNOPSIS
split[ option]...[ file[ name]]
DESCRIPTION
split divides a file into smaller segments, storing the segments in
individual output files and leaving the original file unaltered. The
output files are automatically numbered; split uses a suffix compris-
ing two lowercase letters (aa, ab ... zz) from the current interna-
tionalized environment for this purpose. The last file contains the
remainder of the input file and may contain fewer lines than the
number specified.
If the number of output files required exceeds the maximum length
allowed by the suffix, split does not write the last file (as this
would contain more lines than specified) and terminates with the exit
status >0. The files that have already been created are not deleted.
OPTIONS
No option specified
The output files are called xaa, xab etc. up to xzz in lexico-
graphical sequence. In this case, split creates a maximum of 676
output files.
-a number
The suffix for the output file consists of number letters. For
example, -a 4 creates the output files xaaaa, xaaab etc. up to
xzzzz.
-a not specified: The suffix consists of 2 letters.
-b bytes
split splits the input file into sections of size bytes. bytes
can be specified as follows:
n as the number of bytes
nk as a multiple of 1024 bytes
nm as a multiple of 1048576 bytes
-l lines
split splits the input file into sections containing lines lines.
This corresponds to the old option - lines, which is still sup-
ported.
-l not specified: split splits the input file into sections con-
taining 1000 lines.
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split(1) split(1)
-- End of the list of options. Must be specified if file begins with
-.
file Name of the input file you want to split.
If you use a dash (-) as the name for file, split reads from
standard input.
file not specified:
split reads from standard input.
name Name of the output files: The first output file is given the name
nameaa, the second receives the name nameab, and so on, up to
namezz.
name must therefore be two characters shorter (or number charac-
ters if -a is specified) than the maximum permitted filename
length ({NAMEMAX} bytes) in the relevant file system.
If you specify a value for name, the file argument is mandatory.
EXIT STATUS
0 The input file was split successfully
>0 An invalid option was specified or an error occurred
LOCALE
The LCMESSAGES environment variable governs the language in which
message texts are displayed. If LCMESSAGES is undefined or is defined
as the null string, it defaults to the value of LANG. If LANG is like-
wise undefined or null, the system acts as if it were not internation-
alized.
The LCALL environment variable governs the entire locale. LCALL
takes precedence over all the other environment variables which affect
internationalization.
EXAMPLES
Example 1
The contents of the file example are to be split into several 20-line
files:
$ split -l 20 example
$ ls
example
xaa
xab
xac
xad
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split(1) split(1)
Example 2
Every two lines from the standard input are to be written into files
named out... Since the names of output files are explicitly specified
(out) in this case, the minus sign (-) for standard input must not be
omitted!
$ split -l 2 - out
What is true was always true
and will always remain true.
But what is not true, was never reality
and will never become reality.
<CTRL-D>
$ ls
outaa
outab
SEE ALSO
bfs(1), csplit(1), statvfs(2).
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