11 Useful Split Command Examples for Linux Systems
Abstract: … x0n [[email protected] ~]# split -d tuxlap.txt[[email protected] ~]# split -b2000000 tuxlap.txt Split file based on KB
As the name suggests ‘split‘ command is used to split or break a file into the pieces in Linux and UNIX systems. Whenever we split a large file with split command then split output file’s default size is 1000 lines and its default prefix would be ‘x’.
In this article we will discuss 11 useful split command examples for Linux Users. Apart from this we will also discuss how split files can be merge or reassembled into a single file. Syntax for split command:
# split {options} {file_name} {prefix}
Some of the important options of split command is shown below:
Example: 1) Split File into PiecesLet’s assume we have file name with tuxlap.txt, Use below split command to break into the pieces
[[email protected] ~]# split tuxlap.txt [[email protected] ~]# ll total 32 -rw-------. 1 root root 980 Aug 12 00:11 anaconda-ks.cfg -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 9607 Nov 11 03:22 tuxlap.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 8744 Nov 11 03:23 xaa -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 863 Nov 11 03:23 xab [[email protected] ~]#
As we can see the above output ‘tuxlab.txt‘ is split into two pieces with the name ‘xaa’ and ‘xab’.
Example: 2) Split Command with verbose optionWe can run split command in verbose mode with option ‘–verbose‘, example is shown below:
[[email protected] ~]# split tuxlap.txt --verbose creating file ‘xaa’ creating file ‘xab’ [[email protected] ~]#Example: 3) Split files with customize line numbers (-l)
Let’s suppose we want to split a file with customize line numbers, let say I want max 200 lines per file.
To achieve this, use ‘-l’ option in split command.
[[email protected] ~]# split -l200 tuxlap.txt --verbose creating file ‘xaa’ creating file ‘xab’ creating file ‘xac’ creating file ‘xad’ creating file ‘xae’ creating file ‘xaf’ [[email protected] ~]#
Verify the lines of each file using below command
[[email protected] ~]# wc -l xa* 200 xaa 200 xab 200 xac 200 xad 200 xae 91 xaf 1091 total [[email protected] ~]#Example: 4) Split files with file size using option -b
Using Split command we can split a file with file size. Use the following syntax to split files with size in bytes, KB , MB and GB
# split -b{bytes} {file_name}
# split -b nK {file_name} // n is the numeric value
# split -b nM {file_name} // n is the numeric value
# split -b nG {file_name} // n is the numeric value
Split file based on bytes:
[[email protected] ~]# split -b2000000 tuxlap.txt
Split file based on KB:
[[email protected] ~]# split -b 50K tuxlap.txt
Split file based on MB:
[[email protected] ~]# split -b 50M tuxlap.txt
Split file based on GB:
[[email protected] ~]# split -b 1G tuxlap.txtExample: 5) Create Split files with numeric suffix instead of alphabetic (-d)
In the above examples we have seen that split command output files are created with alphabetic suffix like xaa, xab….. xan , Use ‘-d’ option with split command to create split output files with numeric suffix like x00, x01, … x0n
[[email protected] ~]# split -d tuxlap.txt [[email protected] ~]# ll total 1024256 -rw-------. 1 root root 980 Aug 12 00:11 anaconda-ks.cfg -rwx------. 1 root root 1048576000 Nov 11 03:54 linux-lite.iso -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 120010 Nov 11 04:39 tuxlap.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 11998 Nov 11 04:41 x00 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x01 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x02 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x03 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x04 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x05 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x06 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x07 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x08 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:41 x09 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12 Nov 11 04:41 x10 [[email protected] ~]#Example: 6) Split file with Customize Suffix
With split command we can create split output files with customize suffix. Let’s assume we want to create split output files with customize suffix
Syntax:
# split {file_name} {prefix_name}
[[email protected] ~]# split tuxlap.txt split_file_ [[email protected] ~]# ll total 1024248 -rw-------. 1 root root 980 Aug 12 00:11 anaconda-ks.cfg -rwx------. 1 root root 1048576000 Nov 11 03:54 linux-lite.iso -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 11998 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_aa -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_ab -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_ac -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_ad -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_ae -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_af -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_ag -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_ah -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_ai -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12000 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_aj -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 12 Nov 11 04:56 split_file_ak -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 120010 Nov 11 04:39 tuxlap.txt [[email protected] ~]#Example: 7) Generate n chunks output files with split command (-n)
Let’s suppose we want to split an iso file into 4 chunk output files. Use ‘-n’ option with split command limit the number of split output files.
[[email protected] ~]# split -n5 linux-lite.iso
Verify the Split out files using ll command.
[[email protected] ~]# ll total 2048124 -rw-------. 1 root root 980 Aug 12 00:11 anaconda-ks.cfg -rwx------. 1 root root 1048576000 Nov 11 03:54 linux-lite.iso -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 120010 Nov 11 04:39 tuxlap.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 209715200 Nov 11 05:22 xaa -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 209715200 Nov 11 05:22 xab -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 209715200 Nov 11 05:22 xac -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 209715200 Nov 11 05:23 xad -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 209715200 Nov 11 05:23 xae [[email protected] ~]#Example: 8) Prevent Zero Size Split output files with option (-e)
There can be some scenarios where we split a small file into a large number of chunk files and zero size split output files can be created in such cases, so to avoid zero size split output file, use the option ‘-e’
[[email protected] ~]# split -n60 -e tuxlap.txt [[email protected] ~]# ls -l x* -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xaa -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xab -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xac -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xad -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xae -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xaf -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xag -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xah ............. -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xce -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xcf -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2000 Nov 11 05:34 xcg -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2010 Nov 11 05:34 xch [[email protected] ~]#Example:9) Create Split output files of customize suffix length (-a option)
Let’s suppose we want to split an iso file and where size of each split output file is 500MB and suffix length is to be 3. Use the following split command:
[[email protected] ~]# split -b 500M linux-lite.iso -a 3 [[email protected] ~]# ll total 2048124 -rw-------. 1 root root 980 Aug 12 00:11 anaconda-ks.cfg -rwx------. 1 root root 1048576000 Nov 11 03:54 linux-lite.iso -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 120010 Nov 11 04:39 tuxlap.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 524288000 Nov 11 05:43 xaaa -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 524288000 Nov 11 05:43 xaab [[email protected] ~]#Example: 10) Split ISO file and merge it into a single file.
Let’s suppose we have a Windows Server ISO file of size 4.2 GB and we are unable to scp this file to remote server because of its size.
To resolve such type of issues we can split the ISO into n number of pieces and will copy these pieces to remote sever and on the remote server we can merge these pieces into a single file using cat command,
[[email protected] ~]# split -b 800M Windows2012r2.iso Split_IS0_
View the split output files using ll command,
[[email protected] ~]# ll total 8871788 -rw-------. 1 root root 980 Aug 12 00:11 anaconda-ks.cfg -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 838860800 Nov 11 06:29 Split_IS0_aa -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 838860800 Nov 11 06:29 Split_IS0_ab -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 838860800 Nov 11 06:29 Split_IS0_ac -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 838860800 Nov 11 06:29 Split_IS0_ad -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 838860800 Nov 11 06:29 Split_IS0_ae -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 347987968 Nov 11 06:29 Split_IS0_af -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 120010 Nov 11 04:39 tuxlap.txt -rwx------. 1 root root 4542291968 Nov 11 06:03 Windows2012r2.iso [[email protected] ~]#
Now scp these files to remote server and merge these files into a single using cat command
[[email protected] ~]# cat Split_IS0_a* > Windows_Server.iso [[email protected] ~]#Example: 11) Verify the Integrity of Merge file using md5sum utility
As per Example 10, once the split output files are merged into a single file, then we can check the integrity of actual & merge file with md5sum utility. Example is shown below:
[[email protected] ~]# md5sum Windows2012r2.iso 5b5e08c490ad16b59b1d9fab0def883a Windows2012r2.iso [[email protected] ~]# [[email protected] ~]# md5sum Windows_Server.iso 5b5e08c490ad16b59b1d9fab0def883a Windows_Server.iso [[email protected] ~]#
As per the above output, it is confirm that integrity is maintained and we can also say split file are successfully restored to a single file.
That’s all from this article, If you like these examples then please do share your valuable feedback and comments in the comments section below.
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