NAME
cut —
select portions of each line of a
file
SYNOPSIS
cut |
-b list
[-n] [file ...] |
cut |
-c list
[file ...] |
cut |
-f list
[-d string]
[-s] [file ...] |
DESCRIPTION
Thecut 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 and field
numbering start 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 columns or fields from the first number to the second, inclusive.
Numbers or number ranges may be preceded by a dash, which selects all
columns or fields from 1 to the first number. Numbers or number ranges may
be followed by a dash, which selects all columns or fields 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 columns or
fields not present in the input line.
The options are as follows:
-blist- list specifies byte positions.
-clist- list specifies character positions.
-dstring- Use the first character of string as the field delimiter character. The default is the ⟨TAB⟩ character.
-flist- 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- Suppress lines with no field delimiter characters. Unless specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.
EXIT STATUS
The cut utility exits 0 on success,
and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The cut utility conforms to
IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (“POSIX.2”).