Linux Shells by Example

cut—removes selected fields or characters from each line of a file

cut {-b byte-list, --bytes=byte-list} [-n][--help][--version] [file…]
cut {-c character-list, --characters=character-list}[--help] [--version]
    [file…]
cut {-f  field-list, --fields=field-list} [-d delim][-s][--delimiter=delim]
    [--only-delimited] [--help][--version] [file…]

The cut command cuts out columns or characters from a line of a file and if no files are given, uses standard input. The -d option specifies the field delimiter. The default delimiter is a tab.

Example A.17.

1 cut --help 2 cut -d: -f1,3 /etc/passwd 3 cut -d: -f1-5 /etc/passwd 4 cut -c1-3,8-12 /etc/passwd 5 date | cut -c1-3

Explanation

1. The help option displays information about options and arguments to ...