Manual Pages  — SPLIT

split – split a file into pieces

SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION ENVIRONMENT EXIT STATUS SEE ALSO STANDARDS HISTORY BUGS

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]]

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.
-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 specified, 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.

The utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

The split utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1").

A split command appeared in AT&T v3 .

The maximum line length for matching patterns is 65536.