cut.1 (2010 09)

c
cut(1) cut(1)
NAME
cut - cut out (extract) selected fields of each line of a file
SYNOPSIS
cut -c list [file]...
cut -b list [-n][file]...
cut -f list [-d char ][
-s][file]...
DESCRIPTION
cut cuts out (extracts) columns from a table or fields from each line in a file; in data base parlance, it
implements the projection of a relation. Fields as specified by list can be fixed length (defined in terms of
character or byte position in a line when using the
-c or -b option), or the length can vary from line to
line and be marked with a field delimiter character such as the tab character (when using the
-f option).
The input files must be text files, except that line lengths are not limited to LINE_MAX characters.
cut
can be used as a filter; if no files are given, the standard input is used.
When processing single-byte character sets, the
-c and
-b options are equivalent and produce identical
results. When processing multi-byte character sets, when the
-b and -n options are used together,
their combined behavior is very similar, but not identical to the
-c option.
Options
Options are interpreted as follows:
list A comma-separated list of integer byte (
-b option), character (-c option), or field
(
-f option) numbers, in increasing order, with optional - to indicate ranges. For
example:
1,4,7 Positions 1, 4, and 7.
1-3,8 Positions 1 through 3 and 8.
-5,10 Positions 1 through 5 and 10.
3- Position 3 through last position.
-b list Cut based on a list of bytes. Each selected byte is output unless the -n
option is
also specified.
-c list Cut based on character positions specified by list (-c 1-72 extracts the first 72
characters of each line).
-f list Where list is a list of fields assumed to be separated in the file by a delimiter char-
acter (see -d); for example, -f 1,7 copies the first and seventh field only. Lines
with no field delimiters will be passed through intact (useful for table subheadings),
unless -s is specified.
-d char The character following -d is the field delimiter (-f option only). Default is tab .
Space or other characters with special meaning to the shell must be quoted. Adja-
cent field delimiters delimit null fields. char may be an international code set char-
acter.
-n Do not split characters. If the high end of a range within a list is not the last byte of
a character, that character is not included in the output. However, if the low end of
a range within a list is not the first byte of a character, the entire character is
included in the output."
-s Suppresses lines with no delimiter characters when using -f option. Unless -s is
specified, lines with no delimiters appear in the output without alteration.
Hints
Use
grep to extract text from a file based on text pattern recognition (using regular expressions). Use
paste to merge files line-by-line in columnar format. To rearrange columns in a table in a different
sequence, use cut and paste. See grep(1) and paste (1) for more information.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables
LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of text as single and/or multi-byte characters.
If
LC_CTYPE is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of LANG is used
as a default for each unspecified or empty variable. If LANG is not specified or is set to the empty string,
HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company 1