cut

Cut out selected fields of each line of a file (POSIX)

Syntax:

cut -c list [file...]

cut -f list [-d delim] [-s] [file...]

Options:

-c list

Cut out the characters found in the character positions specified by list. For example, a list of -c 1-64 outputs the first 64 characters of each line.

-d delim

Use the delimiter specified by delim (default is tab).

-f list

Cut out the fields specified by list. For example, -f 2,9 outputs the second and ninth fields. The fields described by list are assumed to be separated in the file by a delimiter character (see option -d). Lines without field delimiters are passed through intact, unless -s is specified.

-s

If -f is specified, suppress lines with no field delimiters.

file

The pathname of a text file, whose contents are used instead of the standard input.

Description:

For every file you name, the cut utility cuts out columns or fields from each line, concatenates them, and writes them to the standard output.

If the fields are of a fixed length, you can select them by character position with option -c. If, however, the fields vary in length from line to line, you can select them with the -f option, provided they're separated by a delimiter character. By default, cut assumes the field delimiter character to be tab. You can use the -d option to specify another delimiter.

In options -c and -f, list is a comma-separated list of integers (in increasing order), with an optional dash (-) to indicate ranges.

You can use the cut utility as a filter; if no files are given, the standard input is used.

Examples:

The following are examples of the list argument:

Map userids to names:

cut -d: -f1,5 /etc/passwd

List filenames and their permissions:

ls -l | cut -c57-79,56,56,1-11

Exit status:

0

All input files were output successfully.

>0

An error occurred.

See also:

grep, join