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,R,Q (powers of 1024) or KB,MB,...
(powers of 1000). Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and
so on.
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 any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
SEE ALSO
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/split>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) split invocation'
Packaged by Debian (9.7-3)
Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/li-
censes/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
GNU coreutils 9.7 June 2025 SPLIT(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Thu Dec 11 05:06:43 CET 2025.