UNIX® Shells by Example, Third Edition

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

cut –clist [ filename ... ]cut –flist [ –dc ] [ –s ] [ filename ... ]

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

Example A.14.

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

EXPLANATION Using the colon as a field delimiter, displays fields 1 and 3 of the /etc/passwd file. Using the colon as a field separator, displays fields 1 through 5 of the etc/passwd file. Cuts and displays characters 1 through 3 and 8 through 12 of each line from the /etc/passwd file. Sends the output of ...