SPLIT(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual SPLIT(1P)
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This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux
implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
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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 suffix. 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 con-
sisting 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 suffix "zz",
for a maximum of 676 files.
If the number of files required exceeds the maximum allowed by the suf-
fix 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
POSIX.1-2008, 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 vari-
ables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions vol-
ume of POSIX.1-2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari-
ables 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; other-
wise, 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 Utilities option, 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
splitting on byte boundaries in split cannot be duplicated with the
historical csplit.
The text ``split shall not delete the files it created with valid suf-
fixes'' 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.
Earlier versions of this standard allowed a -line_count option. This
form is no longer specified by POSIX.1-2008 but may be present in some
implementations.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
csplit
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2008, Chapter 8, Environment
Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electri-
cal and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. (This is
POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) 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.unix.org/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.ker-
nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group 2013 SPLIT(1P)
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