split

Split file into 1000-line pieces

$ split [file]

$ split [file] [prefix_]

$ split -l [500] [file]

$ split -b [10M] [file]

$ split -n [5] [file]

$ split -d [file]

$ split -a [4] [file]

split [options] [file [prefix]]

split divides a file into smaller pieces. By default, it creates files with 1000 lines each, named with a prefix (default: x) followed by a suffix (aa, ab, ac, ...).
The command is useful for breaking large files for transmission, processing, or storage limitations. It works with both text and binary files.
Size specifications accept suffixes: K (kilobytes), M (megabytes), G (gigabytes), and also KB, MB, GB for powers of 1000.
Split reads from stdin if no file is specified or if file is -.

-l lines, --lines=lines

Put specified number of lines per output file

Put specified bytes per output file (K, M, G suffixes)

Generate specified number of output files

Use numeric suffixes instead of alphabetic

Generate suffixes of length N (default: 2)

Do not generate empty output files with -n

Print message for each output file

Append additional suffix to file names

Use hexadecimal suffixes

The default 2-character suffix limits output to 676 files (aa-zz). Use -a to increase suffix length for more pieces, or -d for numeric suffixes.
When splitting binary files, use -b (bytes) not -l (lines) to avoid corruption at arbitrary byte boundaries.
To reassemble, use cat prefix\* > original_file. Ensure files are concatenated in correct alphabetical/numerical order.

csplit(1), cat(1), head(1), tail(1)