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 standard output

       l/N    split into N files without splitting lines/records

       l/K/N  output Kth of N to standard output without splitting
              lines/records

       r/N    like 'l' but use round robin distribution

       r/K/N  likewise but only output Kth of N to standard output

       -n (except -nr) will buffer to $TMPDIR, defaulting to /tmp, if the
       input size cannot easily be determined.

AUTHOR
       Written by Torbjorn Granlund and Richard M. Stallman.

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
       GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
       GPL version 3 or later <https://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
       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/split>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) split invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.10               February 2026                        SPLIT(1)