Linux Command - cut

The linux command cut is used to split apart lines in a file.

• more simple than awk
• less functional than awk
• only supports a single literal char as a delimiter

It is more simple and less functional than awk. It works great for splitting things apart.

Chose only one of either list type: -b, -c, -f

-b	specify bytes list
-c	specify char list
-f	specify field list ( delimited by tabs by default )
-d	specify delimiter
-s	only delimited
–complement	Opposite of what was selected
–output-delimiter	Customized output delimiter string

First column of a csv file:

cut -d ',' -f 1 test.txt

First column of piped output:

ps -ef | cut -d ' ' -f 1

Display bytes 1, 2, 3:

cut -b 1,2,3   test.txt

Display characters 1, 2, 3:

cut -c 1,2,3   test.txt

Display fields 1, 2, 3:

cut -f 1,2,3   test.txt

Field 5 to 9:

cut -f 5-9   test.txt

Field 5 to end:

cut -f 5-   test.txt

Beginning to filed 8:

cut -f -8   test.txt

Use a space as a delimiter:

cut -d ' ' -f 2,3 test.txt

Use a colon as a delimiter:

cut -d ':' -f 2,3 test.txt

Use a commas a delimiter ( great for csv files ):

cut -d ',' -f 2,3 test.csv

Only show delimited lines:

cut -s -d ' ' -f 2,3 test.txt

Opposite of what was selected:

cut -d ' ' -f 2,3 --complement test.txt

Use a custom output delimiter:

cut -d ' ' -f 2,3 --output-delimiter="|===|" test.txt