My apologies for taking so long to write back. I'm in the middle of switching 
locations.

Paul, you mentioned using csplit, which already has the ability to create numerical 
suffixes. This is good, and I must sheepishly admit I hadn't looked at csplit, but it 
does not meet my needs. csplit can't split a file based on the size, only the number 
of lines. I need a tool that can split files at the 2GB limit in order to fit into a 
FAT32 filesystem.

Next, several people have asked why we don't use a script to automate this task. The 
problem is two-fold:

1. The majority of our users are not *nix-saavy enough to write scripts.

2. The files we are working with will become evidence to be used in criminal 
proscecutions. As a result, we need to ensure that we handle the evidence as little as 
possible. (Think of a detective taking a murder weapon from the crime scene. We're 
doing the same thing) The more commands that need to be executed, the greater the 
possibility that a mistake will be made and then the truth will never be known. By 
'mistake', I don't mean the erasure of data. If the data has been handled in an 
inappropriate maner, even if only for a short time, it may be inadmissible in federal 
court. 


As I see it, there are two happy solutions to this problem:

1. Add support for size-based splitting to csplit

2. Add numerical suffixes to split

Given that the functionality for numerical suffixies already exists in csplit, why 
can't that be added to regular split? Wouldn't this be a trivial operation?


-- 
Jesse Kornblum, Captain, USAF
United States Naval Academy
[EMAIL PROTECTED]




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