SPLIT(1)                     UNIX Reference Manual                    SPLIT(1)

NAME

     split - split a file into pieces

SYNOPSIS

     split [-n] [-b bytes] [file [name]]

DESCRIPTION

     The split utility reads the given file and splits it up in to smaller
     files.

     Available options:

     -lines     Create files of length -n lines long.

     -b bytes   Create files of length bytes. If no output file length is
                specified, the file size will default to a lenght of 1000
                lines.

     Available operands:

     -     Read from the standard input.

     file  A pathname specifying the file to be split.  If no file operand is
           given, split reads from the standard input.

     name  If the name operand is given, the output files will begin with the
           prefix name and each sequential portion of the split file receives
           a lexically ordered suffix in the range of [aa-zz]. If the operand
           name is not specified, the default prefix of x is be used.

BUGS

     If you provide name, split can only create 676 separate files.  The de-
     fault naming convention allows 2028 separate files.

HISTORY

     A split command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

BSD Experimental                 July 29, 1991                               1