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.\"	@(#)split.1	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/16/94
.\"
.Dd July 10, 2003
.Dt SPLIT 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm split
.Nd split a file into pieces
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl a Ar suffix_length
.Oo
.Fl b Ar byte_count Ns Oo Li k|m Oc |
.Fl l Ar line_count
.Oc
.Op Ar file Op Ar name
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility reads the given
.Ar file
and breaks it up into files of 1000 lines each.
If
.Ar file
is a single dash or absent,
.Nm
reads from the standard input.
.Ar file
itself is not altered.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl a
Use
.Ar suffix_length
letters to form the suffix of the file name.
.It Fl b
Create smaller files
.Ar byte_count
bytes in length.
If
.Ql k
is appended to the number, the file is split into
.Ar byte_count
kilobyte pieces.
If
.Ql m
is appended to the number, the file is split into
.Ar byte_count
megabyte pieces.
.It Fl l
Create smaller files
.Ar line_count
lines in length.
.El
.Pp
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
.Ar suffix_length
characters in the range
.Dq Li a-z .
If
.Fl a
is not specified, two letters are used as the suffix.
.Pp
If the
.Ar name
argument is not specified,
.Ql x
is used.
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm
utility conforms to
.St -p1003.1-2001 .
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm
command appeared in
.At v6 .
.Pp
The
.Fl a
option was introduced in
.Nx 2.0 .
Before that, if
.Ar name
was not specified,
.Nm
would vary the first letter of the filename
to increase the number of possible output files.
The
.Fl a
option makes this unnecessary.