How to Use the Linux csplit Command – Examples Included

CSplit command in Linux with Examples

The csplit command in Linux is a utility used to split files into sections determined by context lines, or by line numbers/bytes. It’s a very powerful command line utility and is used in a wide range of applications such as scripting, system administration, and web development. In this tutorial we will discuss the basics of csplit, including some useful examples of how to use it.

How to Use the csplit Command

The basic syntax of csplit is as follows:

csplit [OPTIONS] FILE PATTERN… 

Where FILE is the file to be split and PATTERN is the pattern that determines where the file should be split.

Examples of csplit Command

Example 1: Split a File by Line Numbers

This example will split a file into two pieces. The output files are called xx00 and xx01.

csplit sample.txt 5 10 

Example 2: Split a File by Context

This example will split a file into three parts. The output files are called xx00, xx01 and xx02. The csplit command looks for the string “***” at the beginning of a line before starting a new file.

csplit sample.txt "/^\*\*\*/" 

Example 3: Split a File by Size

This example will split a file into five parts, each of which is 10 kilobytes in size. The output files are called xx00, xx01, xx02, xx03 and xx04.

csplit -b "%010dK" sample.txt 

Conclusion

The csplit command is a powerful tool for splitting files in Linux. It can be used to easily split files by context lines, line numbers, or even file size. This tutorial covered some basic examples of how to use csplit, but there are many more options available. For more information on csplit and its usage, see the csplit man page.