cut
cut options [files]
Cut out selected columns or fields from one or more files. In the following options, list is a sequence of integers. Use a comma between separate values, and a hyphen to specify a range (e.g., 1-10,15,20 or 50-). See also paste and join.
|
Options | |
| -b list, --bytes list |
Specify list of positions; only bytes in these positions will be printed. |
| -c list, --characters list |
Cut the column positions identified in list. Column numbers start with 1. |
| -d c, --delimiter c |
Use with -f to specify field delimiter as character c (default is tab); special characters (e.g., a space) must be quoted. |
| -f list, --fields list |
Cut the fields identified in list. |
| -n |
Don't split multibyte characters. |
| -s, --only-delimited |
Use with -f to suppress lines without delimiters. |
| --output-delimiter=string |
Use string as the output delimiter. By default, the output delimiter is the same as the input delimiter. |
| --help |
Print help message and exit. |
| --version |
Print version information and exit.
|
Examples
Extract usernames and real names from /etc/passwd:
cut -d: -f1,5 /etc/passwd
Find out who is logged on, but list only login names:
who | cut -d" " -f1
Cut characters in the fourth column of file, and paste them back as the first column in the same file:
cut -c4 file | paste - file
