Tuesday, 20 May 2014

How To Split Big File into Smaller Files in Linux

Posted by krishna


Split command is used to to split large files into smaller files in Unix.. Syntax of Split command :

#  split [options]   filename   prefix

Replace filename with the name of the large file you wish to split. Replace prefix with the name you wish to give the small output files. You can exclude [options], or replace it with either of the following:

-l  linenumber
-b  bytes

If we use -l (a lowercase L) option, replace linenumber with the number of lines you'd like in each of the smaller files (the default is 1,000). If you use the -b option, replace bytes with the number of bytes you'd like in each of the smaller files.
The split command will give each output file it creates the name prefix with an extension tacked to the end that indicates its order. By default, the split command adds aa to the first output file, proceeding through the alphabet to zz for subsequent files. If you do not specify a prefix, most systems use x.


Examples  :
  • In this simple example, assume testfile is 3,000 lines long:

    # split testfile

    This will output three 1000-line files: xaa, xab, and xac.

  • Working on the same file, this next example is little complex:

    # split -l 500 testfile segment

    This will output six 500-line files: segmentaa, segmentab, segmentac, segmentad, segmentae, and segmentaf.

  • Finally, assume testfile is a 160KB file:

    #  split -b 40k   testfile segment

    This will output four 40KB files: segmentaa, segmentab, segmentac, and segmentad.

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