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SPLIT(1) FreeBSD 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
unchanged. 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
kilobyte 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 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 initial suffix. If the output does not fit into
the resulting number of files and the -d flag is not specified, then the
suffix length is automatically extended as needed such that all output
files continue to sort in lexical order.
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 14.0-RELEASE-p11 May 26, 2023 FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11