split(1p) - phpMan

SPLIT(P) SPLIT(P)

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 consisting
of all â€â€™aâ€â€™ characters, the second with a â€â€™bâ€â€™ replacing the last â€â€™aâ€â€™ , and so on,
until a name of all â€â€™zâ€â€™ characters is created. By default, the names of the output
files shall be â€â€™xâ€â€™ , 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 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 suf-
fix; 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 â€â€™-â€â€™ , the standard input shall be used.

name The prefix to be used for each of the files resulting from the split opera-
tion. If no name argument is given, â€â€™xâ€â€™ shall be used as the prefix of the
output files. The combined length of the basename of prefix and suf-
fix_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 interna-
tionalization 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 char-
acters 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 transmitting 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
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 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 mis-
interpretation.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.