HP-UX Reference (11i v2 07/12) - 1 User Commands A-M (vol 1)

c
cut(1) cut(1)
NAME
cut - extract (cut out) selected fields from 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).
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 character (see
-d); for example, -f 1,7 copies the first and seventh field only. Lines with no field del-
imiters 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. Adjacent field delim-
iters delimit null fields. char may be an international code set character.
-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 out-
put."
-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, a
default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of LANG. If any internationalization variable contains an invalid
setting, cut behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C". See environ(5).
222 Hewlett-Packard Company − 1 − HP-UX 11i Version 2: December 2007 Update