xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/cut/cut.1 (revision 081fa92f3b85bcabe125eeba03b22ac0bf33c8d1)
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35.\"     @(#)cut.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\" $FreeBSD$
37.\"
38.Dd December 21, 2006
39.Dt CUT 1
40.Os
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm cut
43.Nd cut out selected portions of each line of a file
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Nm
46.Fl b Ar list
47.Op Fl n
48.Op Ar
49.Nm
50.Fl c Ar list
51.Op Ar
52.Nm
53.Fl f Ar list
54.Op Fl d Ar delim
55.Op Fl s
56.Op Ar
57.Sh DESCRIPTION
58The
59.Nm
60utility cuts out selected portions of each line (as specified by
61.Ar list )
62from each
63.Ar file
64and writes them to the standard output.
65If no
66.Ar file
67arguments are specified, or a file argument is a single dash
68.Pq Sq Fl ,
69.Nm
70reads from the standard input.
71The items specified by
72.Ar list
73can be in terms of column position or in terms of fields delimited
74by a special character.
75Column numbering starts from 1.
76.Pp
77The
78.Ar list
79option argument
80is a comma or whitespace separated set of increasing numbers and/or
81number ranges.
82Number ranges consist of a number, a dash
83.Pq Sq \- ,
84and a second number
85and select the fields or columns from the first number to the second,
86inclusive.
87Numbers or number ranges may be preceded by a dash, which selects all
88fields or columns from 1 to the last number.
89Numbers or number ranges may be followed by a dash, which selects all
90fields or columns from the last number to the end of the line.
91Numbers and number ranges may be repeated, overlapping, and in any order.
92It is not an error to select fields or columns not present in the
93input line.
94.Pp
95The options are as follows:
96.Bl -tag -width indent
97.It Fl b Ar list
98The
99.Ar list
100specifies byte positions.
101.It Fl c Ar list
102The
103.Ar list
104specifies character positions.
105.It Fl d Ar delim
106Use
107.Ar delim
108as the field delimiter character instead of the tab character.
109.It Fl f Ar list
110The
111.Ar list
112specifies fields, separated in the input by the field delimiter character
113(see the
114.Fl d
115option.)
116Output fields are separated by a single occurrence of the field delimiter
117character.
118.It Fl n
119Do not split multi-byte characters.
120Characters will only be output if at least one byte is selected, and,
121after a prefix of zero or more unselected bytes, the rest of the bytes
122that form the character are selected.
123.It Fl s
124Suppress lines with no field delimiter characters.
125Unless specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.
126.El
127.Sh ENVIRONMENT
128The
129.Ev LANG , LC_ALL
130and
131.Ev LC_CTYPE
132environment variables affect the execution of
133.Nm
134as described in
135.Xr environ 7 .
136.Sh EXIT STATUS
137.Ex -std
138.Sh EXAMPLES
139Extract users' login names and shells from the system
140.Xr passwd 5
141file as
142.Dq name:shell
143pairs:
144.Pp
145.Dl "cut -d : -f 1,7 /etc/passwd"
146.Pp
147Show the names and login times of the currently logged in users:
148.Pp
149.Dl "who | cut -c 1-16,26-38"
150.Sh SEE ALSO
151.Xr colrm 1 ,
152.Xr paste 1
153.Sh STANDARDS
154The
155.Nm
156utility conforms to
157.St -p1003.2-92 .
158.Sh HISTORY
159A
160.Nm
161command appeared in
162.Tn AT&T
163System III
164.Ux .
165