split

split [options] [file [prefix]]

split divides a file into smaller pieces. By default, it creates files with 1000 lines each, named with a prefix (default: x) followed by a suffix (aa, ab, ac, ...).The command is useful for breaking large files for transmission, processing, or storage limitations. It works with both text and binary files.Size specifications accept suffixes: K (kilobytes), M (megabytes), G (gigabytes), and also KB, MB, GB for powers of 1000.Split reads from stdin if no file is specified or if file is -.

-l lines, --lines=lines

Put specified number of lines per output file

Put specified bytes per output file (K, M, G suffixes)

Generate specified number of output files

Use numeric suffixes instead of alphabetic

Generate suffixes of length N (default: 2)

Do not generate empty output files with -n

Print message for each output file

Append additional suffix to file names

Use hexadecimal suffixes

The default 2-character suffix limits output to 676 files (aa-zz). Use -a to increase suffix length for more pieces, or -d for numeric suffixes.When splitting binary files, use -b (bytes) not -l (lines) to avoid corruption at arbitrary byte boundaries.To reassemble, use cat prefix\* > original_file. Ensure files are concatenated in correct alphabetical/numerical order.

csplit(1), cat(1), head(1), tail(1)