Split a feature

The Split tool splits a visible feature into two or more features where you click it, or where a sketched line or the boundary of another feature crosses it. This tool is available in the Modify Features pane.

• Splitting z-enabled features adds vertices with interpolated z-values and preserves the angular pitch of the split segments in 3D space.
• Attribute values from the original feature are copied to the new features. Attributes constrained by attribute domains are determined by the domain split policy defined by the source geodatabase.
• The feature layer must be editable.

The tabs appearing on the pane are described in the following table:

Tab	Description
Interactive	Split a feature by clicking or drawing a line across the feature.
By Feature	Split selected target features where they intersect selected input features.

Note:

• To divide a polyline or polygon feature by a value, use the Divide tool .
• To split features into COGO lines use the Split Into COGO Lines tool .

Split a line feature

Click the line feature or draw a line across it where you want the feature to be split. Clicking an intersection of two or more lines splits all the clicked lines where they intersect.

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Snapping group, click the Snapping drop-down arrow and set your snapping preferences.

   Tip:

   Press and hold the Spacebar to temporarily turn snapping off as you sketch a cutting line.

2. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Features group, click Modify .
3. In the Modify Features pane, expand Divide and click Split .
4. In the tool pane, click the Interactive tab.

   

5. Check or uncheck Allow splitting without a selection.

   Checked	Split all visible and editable features without creating a selection.
   Unchecked	Split only selected features.

6. If the tool is set to split only selected features, click the Select tool and select the features.
7. If you need to refine the selection in the pane, use one or more of the following methods:
   • To reduce a selection to a single feature, double-click the feature you want to keep or right-click it and click Only Select This .
   • To remove a feature from a selection, right-click it and click Unselect .

   

8. To split a line feature by clicking it, click the feature where you want it to be split.

   Note:

   Clicking an intersection of two or more lines splits all the clicked lines where they intersect.

9. To split a line feature by drawing a line across it, click and draw the line. By default, the line tool is automatically active.

   To draw a curvilinear line, click an arc segment tool on the construction toolbar.

   

   To finish the line and split the feature, click Finish , or press F2.

Split a polygon feature

Draw a continuous line that crosses or touches the polygon feature in at least two places using the segment tools on the construction toolbar.

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Snapping group, click the Snapping drop-down arrow and set your snapping preferences.

   Tip:

   Press and hold the Spacebar to temporarily turn snapping off as you sketch a cutting line.

2. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Features group, click Modify .
3. In the Modify Features pane, expand Divide and click Split .
4. In the tool pane, click the Interactive tab.

   

5. Check or uncheck Allow splitting without a selection.

   Checked	Split all visible and editable features without creating a selection.
   Unchecked	Split only selected features.

6. If the tool is set to split only selected features, click the Select tool and select the features.
7. If you need to refine the selection in the pane, use one or more of the following methods:
   • To reduce the selection to a single feature, double-click the feature you want to keep or right-click it and click Only Select This .
   • To remove a feature from the selection, right-click it and click Unselect .

   

8. Draw a continuous line that crosses or touches the feature in at least two places. By default, the line tool is automatically active.

   To draw a curvilinear line, click an arc segment tool on the construction toolbar.

   

   To finish the line and split the feature, click Finish , or press F2.

Split features with other features

Use the selection tabs to organize your input and target selections. Selected features highlight with hatched lines. To move features between the input and target tabs, right-click the feature in the tab view and click the command.

Note:

If the selection set exceeds 100 features, hatched highlighting is suppressed and not displayed.

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Snapping group, click the Snapping drop-down arrow and set your snapping preferences.

   Tip:

   Press and hold the Spacebar to temporarily turn snapping off as you sketch a cutting line.

2. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Features group, click Modify .
3. In the Modify Features pane, expand Divide and click Split .
4. In the tool pane, click the By Feature tab.

   

5. Click the Input Features tab, click the Select tool , and select the input cutting features.
6. Click the Target Features tab, click the Select tool , and select the target features to be split.
7. If you need to refine a selection in one of the tabs, click the tab and use one or more of the following methods:
   • To reduce a selection to a single feature, double-click the feature you want to keep or right-click it and click Only Select This .
   • To remove a feature from a selection, right-click it and click Unselect .
   • To move a feature from the Input Features tab to the target selection, right-click it and click Move to Target.

     

   • To move a feature from the Target Features tab to the input selection, right-click it and click Move to Input.

     

   • If one tab contains a selection, you can click the Select all intersecting features tool in the other tab to select all intersecting features on multiple layers.
8. Click Split.