CUT(1) BSD General Commands Manual CUT(1)NAMEcut — select portions of each line of a file
SYNOPSIScut-b list [-n] [file ...]
cut-c list [file ...]
cut-f list [-d delim] [-s] [file ...]
DESCRIPTION
The cut utility selects portions of each line (as specified by list) from
each file and writes them to the standard output. If no file arguments
are specified, or a file argument is a single dash (‘-’), cut reads from
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.
The list option argument is a comma or whitespace separated set of
increasing numbers and/or number ranges. Number ranges consist of a num‐
ber, 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 delim
Use the first character of delim as the field delimiter character
instead of the tab character.
-f list
The list specifies fields, delimited in the input by a single tab
character. Output fields are separated by a single tab charac‐
ter.
-n Do not split multi-byte characters.
-s Suppress lines with no field delimiter characters. Unless speci‐
fied, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.
ENVIRONMENT
The LANG, LC_ALL and LC_CTYPE environment variables affect the execution
of cut if the -n option is specified. Their effect is described in
environ(7).
EXAMPLES
Extract users' login names and shells from the system passwd(5) file as
“name:shell” pairs:
cut-d : -f 1,7 /etc/passwd
Show the names and login times of the currently logged in users:
who | cut-c 1-16,26-38
DIAGNOSTICS
The cut utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSOpaste(1)STANDARDS
The cut utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (“POSIX.2”).
HISTORY
A cut command appeared in AT&T System III UNIX.
BUGS
The -c option is a synonym for the -b option, which causes incorrect be‐
haviour in locales that support multibyte characters.
When operating on fields (-f option is specified), cut does not recognise
multibyte characters, and the delim character is recognised in the middle
of multibyte sequences.
BSD June 6, 1993 BSD