Thankfully, using a simple command from the terminal, you can split these huge files into segments in literal seconds! Let’s get started!
Let’s pretend you have a CSV file that contains 60k rows, each consisting of 8 columns. Sure, you could open the file, select a couple of thousand rows at a time, copy into a new spreadsheet and save that new file. Although this will do the trick, Linux (or any Unix based OS) offers an even better solution.
In order to split a large file into smaller files, use the split
command:
split [options] yourfile segmentnames
-l linenumber
, or bytes: -b bytes
. In my case, I’m typically working with spreadsheets:split -l 2000 myfile segment
The command above will split the existing file into segments of 2000. If the original file consists of 60k lines, the resulting output will create 30 files consisting of 2000 lines.
Bonus!
Once you’ve split your files, you’ll find that each file contains no extension. You can quickly and easily rename each file, adding the appropriate extension type. In my example, I’ll use .csv. Once your segments have been created, select all of the newly created files > right click > rename (or F2). Hit Enter or click the “Rename” button and PRESTO! All of your new segments have been renamed with the appropriate file extension:

I use the split
command at least once a week. It has saved countless hours of screwing around, manually splitting files up. The beauty here: Even if your file doesn’t open due to its size, the entire process of splitting can be done without cracking the file open.