csplit(C)                       19 June 1992                       csplit(C)


 Name

    csplit - split files according to context

 Syntax

    csplit [ -s ] [ -k ] [ -fprefix ] file arg1 [ ... argn ]

 Description

    The csplit command reads file and separates it into n+1 sections, defined
    by the arguments arg1 ...  argn.  By default the sections are placed in
    files 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 refer-
          enced by arg1.

    01:   From the line referenced by arg1 up to the line referenced by arg2.

             .
             .
             .

    n+1:  From the line referenced by argn to the end of file.

    The options to csplit are:

    -s         csplit normally prints the character counts for each file cre-
               ated.  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.

    -fprefix   If the -f option is used, the created files are named prefix00
               ... prefixn.  The default is xx00 ...  xxn.

    The arguments (arg1 ...  argn) to csplit can be a combination of the fol-
    lowing:

    /rexp/  A file is to be created for the section from the current line
            down 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 (for example, /Page/-5).

    %rexp%  This argument is the same as /rexp/, except that no file is cre-
            ated for the section.

    lnno    A file is to be created from the current line down to (but not
            including) lnno.  The current line becomes lnno.

    {num}   Repeat argument.  This argument may follow any of the above argu-
            ments.  If it follows an 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 quotation marks.  Regular
    expressions may not contain embedded newlines.  csplit does not affect
    the original file; it is the user's responsibility to remove it.

 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 would split 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}

    Assuming that prog.c follows the normal C coding convention of ending
    routines with a } at the beginning of the line, and that main() is the
    first function in prog.c, this example will create a file for each
    separate C routine, up to 21 routines.

 See also

    ed(C), regex(S), sh(C)

 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.

 Standards conformance

    csplit is conformant with:

    AT&T SVID Issue 2;
    and X/Open Portability Guide, Issue 3, 1989.