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SPLIT(1) User Commands SPLIT(1)

NAME

split - split a file into pieces

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

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 (powers of 1024) or KB,MB,... (powers of 1000).

CHUNKS may be:

N
split into N files based on size of input
K/N
output Kth of N to stdout
l/N
split into N files without splitting lines/records
l/K/N
output Kth of N to stdout without splitting lines/records
r/N
like 'l' but use round robin distribution
r/K/N
likewise but only output Kth of N to stdout

AUTHOR

Written by Torbjorn Granlund and Richard M. Stallman.

REPORTING BUGS

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

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2018 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.

SEE ALSO

Full documentation at: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/split>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) split invocation'
February 2019 GNU coreutils 8.30