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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	 corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
       splitsplit 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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