split command#

The split command is used to split a large file into smaller files. By default, it splits the file into smaller files with 1000 lines in each file.

Syntax#

split [OPTION]... [FILE [PREFIX]]

Options#

• -a, --suffix-length=N: Use suffixes of length N, by default use 2 characters.
• --additional-suffix=SUFFIX: Append an additional SUFFIX to the file names.
• -b, --bytes=SIZE: Put SIZE bytes per output file.
• -C, --line-bytes=SIZE: Put at most SIZE bytes of lines into each output file, similar to -b but with consideration for maintaining line integrity.
• -d: Use numeric suffixes instead of alphabetic.
• --numeric-suffixes[=FROM]: Same as -d, but allows setting a start value.
• -e, --elide-empty-files: Do not generate empty output files with -n.
• --filter=COMMAND: Write to shell COMMAND; file name is $FILE.
• -l, --lines=NUMBER: Put NUMBER lines per output file.
• -n, --number=CHUNKS: Generate CHUNKS output files; CHUNKS could be:
  • N: split into N files based on input size
  • K/N: output Kth of N to stdout
  • l/N: split into N files, no line splitting
  • l/K/N: output Kth of N to stdout, no line splitting
  • r/N: similar to l, but use a round robin distribution
  • r/K/N: output Kth of N to stdout, with round robin distribution
• -t, --separator=SEP: Use SEP instead of newline as the record separator, \0 for NUL.
• -u, --unbuffered: Immediately copy input to output with -n r/....
• --verbose: Print informative message before opening each output file.
• --help: Display help information.
• --version: Output version information.

Examples#

Split file tmp/file.txt into separate files, named newaa, newab, newac, etc., with each file containing 2 bytes of data.

split -b 2 /tmp/file.txt new

Split file tmp/file.txt into separate files, named newaa, newab, newac, etc., with each file containing 2 lines of data.

split -l 2 /tmp/file.txt new

Split file tmp/file.txt into separate files, using numeric suffixes, with each file containing 2 lines of data.

split -d -l 2 /tmp/file.txt new

Daily Quiz#

References#