SPLIT(1)

NAME
split - split a file into pieces

SYNOPSIS
split [OPTION]... [INPUT [PREFIX]]

DESCRIPTION

Output fixed-size pieces of INPUT to PREFIXaa, PREFIXab, ...; default size is 1000 lines, and default PREFIX is 'x'. With no INPUT, or when INPUT 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 lines per output file

-d, --numeric-suffixes[=FROM]
    use numeric suffixes instead of alphabetic. FROM changes the start value (default 0).

-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 per output file

-n, --number=CHUNKS
    generate CHUNKS output files. See below

-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

SIZE is an integer and optional unit (example: 10M is 10*1024*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 l/K/N output Kth of N to stdout without splitting lines 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
Report split bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report split translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://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
The full documentation for split is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and split programs are properly installed at your site, the command

    info coreutils 'split invocation'

should give you access to the complete manual.