In each of the cases above, it is possible to specify an approximate maximum number of lines that each of the generated .c files may contain. This is done using the -maxlines option. If -maxlines is specified with no parameter, a default maximum number of lines (50,000) will be set; otherwise, the given value will be used.

If the given maximum lines limit is surpassed in a file, a new file will be started with an “_1” appended, for example <moduleName>Enc_1.c. Additional files will be numbered sequentially if necessary (_2, _3, etc.). Note that this limit is a lower threshold and not exact. A complete compilation unit (for example, a function) will not be split because of this threshold. The way it works is the threshold is checked before the output of a compilation unit. If it is found to be exceeded, a new file is started at that time. Therefore, a user should plan for a reserve to be in place above the limit to compensate for this overflow.

The reason for having this limit is because some C/C++ compilers have problems with very large .c files. For example, one product will not allow the debugger to work on lines in a file over the 64k threshold.