split(1)

split -- split a file into pieces

Synopsis

split [-l line_count] [-a suf_length] [file [name]]

split -b n[k|m] [-a suf_length] [file [name]]

split [-line_count] [-a suf_length] [file [name]]

Description

split reads file and writes it in n-line pieces (default 1000 lines) onto a set of output files. The name of the first output file is name with aa appended, and so on lexicographically, up to zz (a maximum of 676 files). The maximum length of name is 2 characters less than the maximum filename length allowed by the file system. See statvfs(2). If no output name is given, x is default.

If no input file is given, or if - is given in its stead, then the standard input file is used.

The following options are recognized:

-l line_count: Specify the number of lines in each resulting file piece. The line_count argument is an unsigned decimal integer. The default is 1000. If the input does not end with a newline character, the partial line will be included in the last output line.
-a suf_length: Use suf_length letters to form the suffix portion of the filenames of the split file. If -a is not specified, the default suffix length is two. If the sum of the name operand and the suf_length option-argument would create a filename exceeding [NAME_MAX] bytes, an error will result; split will exit with a diagnostic message and no files will be created.
-b n: Split a file into pieces n bytes in size.
-b nk: Split a file into pieces n*1024 bytes in size.
-b nm: Split a file into pieces n*1 048 576 bytes in size.

Files

/usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxdfm: language-specific message file (see LANG on environ(5)).

References

bfs(1), csplit(1), statvfs(2)