split (Unix)
split is a Unix utility most commonly used to split a file into two or more smaller files.
Usage
The command-syntax is:
split [OPTION] [INPUT [PREFIX]]
The default behavior of split is to generate output files of a fixed size, default 1000 lines. The files are named by appending aa, ab, ac, etc. to output filename. If output filename is not given, the default filename of x is used, for example, xaa, xab, etc. When a hyphen (-) is used instead of input filename, data is derived from standard input.
To split filename to parts each 50 MB named partaa, partab, partac,....
split -b50m filename part
To join the files back together again use the cat command
cat xaa xab xac > filename
or
cat xa[a-c] > filename
or even
cat xa? > filename
Additional program options permit a maximum character count (instead of a line count), a maximum line length, how many incrementing characters in generated filenames, and whether to use letters or digits.
Manual
- – Commands & Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX® Specification, Issue 7 from The Open Group
See also
- csplit – splits by content rather than by size
- File spanning
- List of Unix utilities