The split command¶
The split command in Linux is used to split a file into smaller files.
Examples¶
- Split a file into a smaller file using file name
split filename.txt
- Split a file named filename into segments of 200 lines beginning with prefix file
split -l 200 filename file
This will create files of the name fileaa, fileab, fileac, filead, etc. of 200 lines.
- Split a file named filename into segments of 40 bytes with prefix file
split -b 40 filename file
This will create files of the name fileaa, fileab, fileac, filead, etc. of 40 bytes.
- Split a file using –verbose to see the files being created.
split filename.txt --verbose
Syntax:¶
split [options] filename [prefix]
Additional Flags and their Functionalities¶
| Short Flag | Long Flag | Description |
|---|---|---|
-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: |CHUNKS |Description | |:—|:—| |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|