SPLIT(1P)						     POSIX Programmer's Manual							 SPLIT(1P)

PROLOG

       This  manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the correspond-
       ing Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       split - split files into pieces

SYNOPSIS

       split [-l line_count][-a suffix_length][file[name]]

       split -b n[k|m][-a suffix_length][file[name]]

DESCRIPTION

       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 suf-
       fix. 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 suf-
       fix "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.

OPTIONS

       The split utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, 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.

OPERANDS

       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.

STDIN

       See the INPUT FILES section.

INPUT FILES

       Any file can be used as input.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       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
	      IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,  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 .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

       Default.

STDOUT

       Not used.

STDERR

       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES

       The output files contain portions of the original input file; otherwise, unchanged.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

       None.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values shall be returned:

	0     Successful completion.

       >0     An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE

       None.

EXAMPLES

       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

RATIONALE

       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 transmit-
       ting 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  ). Upon reconsideration of the purpose of the User Portability Extension, 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 split-
       ting 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.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       csplit

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
       ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. 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.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE
/The Open Group						       2003								 SPLIT(1P)