docs:unix:split [hartungdesign.net wiki]

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====== split ======

===== Description =====
The split utility reads the given file (or standard input if no file is specified) and breaks it up into files of, by default, 1000 lines each.
<code>
     The options are as follows:

     -b      Create files byte_count bytes in length.  If ``k'' is appended to
             the number, the file is split into byte_count kilobyte pieces.
             If ``m'' is appended to the number, the file is split into
             byte_count megabyte pieces.

     -l      Create output files n lines in length.

     -a      Use suffix_length letters to form the suffix portion of the file-
             names of the split file.  If -a is not specified, the default
             suffix length will be two. If the sum of the name operand and the
             suffix_length option-argument would create a filename exceeding
             {NAME_MAX} bytes, an error will occur, and split will exit with
             no output files having been created.
</code>

===== Example =====
<code>
# ls -lh largefile
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 251M Feb 19 10:27 largefile
# split -b 2m largefile LF_
# ls -lh LF_* | head -n 5
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 2.0M Feb 19 10:29 LF_aa
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 2.0M Feb 19 10:29 LF_ab
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 2.0M Feb 19 10:29 LF_ac
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 2.0M Feb 19 10:29 LF_ad
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 2.0M Feb 19 10:29 LF_ae
# ls -lh LF_* | wc -l
126

</code>

===== Keywords =====
split, chunk