split - Man Page

• Split a file, each split having 10 lines (except the last split): split -l 10 path/to/file
• Split a file into 5 files. File is split such that each split has same size (except the last split): split -n 5 path/to/file
• Split a file with 512 bytes in each split (except the last split; use 512k for kilobytes and 512m for megabytes): split -b 512 path/to/file
• Split a file with at most 512 bytes in each split without breaking lines: split -C 512 path/to/file

tldr.sh

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

Output pieces of FILE to PREFIXaa, PREFIXab, ...; default size is 1000 lines, and default PREFIX is 'x'.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-a,  --suffix-length=N

generate suffixes of length N (default 2)

--additional-suffix=SUFFIX

append an additional SUFFIX to file names

-b,  --bytes=SIZE

put SIZE bytes per output file

-C,  --line-bytes=SIZE

put at most SIZE bytes of records per output file

-d

use numeric suffixes starting at 0, not alphabetic

--numeric-suffixes[=FROM]

same as -d, but allow setting the start value

-x

use hex suffixes starting at 0, not alphabetic

--hex-suffixes[=FROM]

same as -x, but allow setting the 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/records per output file

-n,  --number=CHUNKS

generate CHUNKS output files; see explanation below

-t,  --separator=SEP

use SEP instead of newline as the record separator; '\0' (zero) specifies the NUL character

-u,  --unbuffered

immediately copy input to output with '-n r/...'

--verbose

print a diagnostic just before each output file is opened

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

The SIZE argument is an integer and optional unit (example: 10K is 10*1024). Units are K,M,G,T,P,E,Z,Y,R,Q (powers of 1024) or KB,MB,... (powers of 1000). Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on.

Written by Torbjorn Granlund and Richard M. Stallman.

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

Copyright © 2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/split>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) split invocation'

jigdo-file(1), nbdkit-lzip-filter(1).