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

NAME

     split -- split a file into pieces

SYNOPSIS

     split -d [-l line_count] [-a suffix_length] [file [prefix]]
     split -d -b byte_count[K|k|M|m|G|g] [-a suffix_length] [file [prefix]]
     split -d -n chunk_count [-a suffix_length] [file [prefix]]
     split -d -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 num-
	     ber, the file is split into byte_count gigabyte pieces.

     -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.

     -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 speci-
     fied, two letters are used as the suffix.

     If the prefix 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
								    May 9, 2013 							       BSD