SPLIT(1)                FreeBSD General Commands Manual               SPLIT(1)

NAME
     split - split a file into pieces

SYNOPSIS
     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]]

DESCRIPTION
     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.  The first n - 1 files
             will be of size (size of file / chunk_count ) and the last file
             will contain the remaining bytes.

     -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.

ENVIRONMENT
     The LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE and LC_COLLATE environment variables affect
     the execution of split as described in environ(7).

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

EXAMPLES
     Split input into as many files as needed, so that each file contains at
     most 2 lines:

           $ echo -e "first line\nsecond line\nthird line\nforth line" | split -l2

     Split input in chunks of 10 bytes using numeric prefixes for file names.
     This generates two files of 10 bytes (x00 and x01) and a third file (x02)
     with the remaining 2 bytes:

           $ echo -e "This is 22 bytes long" | split -d -b10

     Split input generating 6 files:

           echo -e "This is 22 bytes long" | split -n 6

     Split input creating a new file every time a line matches the regular
     expression for a "t" followed by either "a" or "u" thus creating two
     files:

           $ echo -e "stack\nstock\nstuck\nanother line" | split -p 't[au]'

SEE ALSO
     csplit(1), re_format(7)

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

HISTORY
     A split command appeared in Version 3 AT&T UNIX.

BUGS
     The maximum line length for matching patterns is 65536.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6           May 9, 2013          FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6