NAME
cut
- select portions of each line of a file
SYNOPSIS
cut
-b list
[-n]
[]
cut
-c list
[]
cut
-f list
[-d delim]
[-s]
[]
DESCRIPTION
The
cut
utility selects portions of each line (as specified by
list)
from each
file
and writes them to the
standard output.
If the
file
argument is a single dash
(`-')
or no
file
arguments were specified, lines are read from the standard input.
The items specified by
list
can be in terms of column position or in terms of fields delimited
by a special character.
Column numbering starts from 1.
List
is a comma or whitespace separated set of increasing numbers and/or
number ranges.
Number ranges consist of a number, a dash
(
-
),
and a second number
and select the fields or columns from the first number to the second,
inclusive.
Numbers or number ranges may be preceded by a dash, which selects all
fields or columns from 1 to the first number.
Numbers or number ranges may be followed by a dash, which selects all
fields or columns from the last number to the end of the line.
Numbers and number ranges may be repeated, overlapping, and in any order.
It is not an error to select fields or columns not present in the
input line.
The options are as follows:
- -b list
-
The
list
specifies byte positions.
- -c list
-
The
list
specifies character positions.
- -d string
-
Use the first character of
string
as the field delimiter character.
The default is the
<TAB>
character.
- -f list
-
The
list
specifies fields, separated by the field delimiter character.
The selected fields are output,
separated by the field delimiter character.
- -n
-
Do not split multi-byte characters.
- -s
-
Suppresses lines with no field delimiter characters.
Unless specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.
EXIT STATUS
cut
exits 0 on success, 1 if an error occurred.
SEE ALSO
paste(1)
STANDARDS
The
cut
utility conforms to
IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (``POSIX.2'') .