csplit(1) — USER COMMANDS
NAME
csplit − context split
SYNOPSIS
csplit [−s] [−k] [−f prefix ] file arg1 [... argn ]
DESCRIPTION
csplit reads file and separates it into n+1 sections, defined by the arguments arg1 ... argn. By default the sections are placed in xx00...xxn (n may not be greater than 99). These sections get the following pieces of file:
00: From the start of file up to (but not including) the line referenced by arg1 .
01: From the line referenced by arg1 up to the line referenced by arg2 .
. . .
n: From the line referenced by argn to the end of file.
If the file argument is a −, then standard input is used.
The options to csplit are:
−s csplit normally prints the character counts for each file created. If the −s option is present, csplit suppresses the printing of all character counts.
−k csplit normally removes created files if an error occurs. If the −k option is present, csplit leaves previously created files intact.
−f prefix If the −f option is used, the created files are named prefix00 . . . prefixn. The default is xx00 . . . xxn. Characters from supplementary code sets can be used for prefix.
The arguments (arg1...argn) to csplit can be a combination of the following:
/rexp/ A file is to be created for the section from the current line up to (but not including) the line containing the regular expression rexp. The current line becomes the line containing rexp. This argument may be followed by an optional + or − some number of lines (e.g., /Page/−5). See ed(1) for a description of how to specify a regular expression.
%rexp% This argument is the same as /rexp/, except that no file is created for the section.
lnno A file is to be created from the current line up to (but not including) lnno. The current line becomes lnno.
{num} Repeat argument. This argument may follow any of the above arguments. If it follows a rexp type argument, that argument is applied num more times. If it follows lnno, the file will be split every lnno lines (num times) from that point.
Enclose all rexp type arguments that contain blanks or other characters meaningful to the shell in the appropriate quotes. Regular expressions may not contain embedded new-lines. csplit does not affect the original file; it is the user’s responsibility to remove it if it is no longer wanted.
EXAMPLES
csplit −f cobol file ’/procedure division/’ /par5./ /par16./
This example creates four files, cobol00...cobol03. After editing the “split” files, they can be recombined as follows:
cat cobol0[0−3] > file
Note that this example overwrites the original file.
csplit −k file 100 {99}
This example splits the file at every 100 lines, up to 10,000 lines. The −k option causes the created files to be retained if there are less than 10,000 lines; however, an error message would still be printed.
csplit −k prog.c ’%main(%´ ’/^}/+1’ {20}
If prog.c follows the normal C coding convention (the last line of a routine consists only of a } in the first character position), this example creates a file for each separate C routine (up to 21) in prog.c.
INTERNATIONAL FUNCTIONS
csplit can process characters from supplementary code sets. In regular expressions, searches are performed on characters, not bytes.
The indicated size of the files created is in bytes, not the number of characters.
SEE ALSO
DIAGNOSTICS
Self-explanatory except for:
arg − out of range
which means that the given argument did not reference a line between the current position and the end of the file.
— Directory and File Management Utilities