xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/cut/cut.1 (revision 77b7cdf1999ee965ad494fddd184b18f532ac91a)
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35.\"     @(#)cut.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\" $FreeBSD$
37.\"
38.Dd June 6, 1993
39.Dt CUT 1
40.Os
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm cut
43.Nd select 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 selects 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 first 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 the first character of
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, delimited in the input by a single tab character.
113Output fields are separated by a single tab character.
114.It Fl n
115Do not split multi-byte characters.
116.It Fl s
117Suppress lines with no field delimiter characters.
118Unless specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.
119.El
120.Sh ENVIRONMENT
121The
122.Ev LANG , LC_ALL
123and
124.Ev LC_CTYPE
125environment variables affect the execution of
126.Nm
127if the
128.Fl n
129option is specified.
130Their effect is described in
131.Xr environ 7 .
132.Sh EXAMPLES
133Extract users' login names and shells from the system
134.Xr passwd 5
135file as
136.Dq name:shell
137pairs:
138.Pp
139.Dl "cut -d : -f 1,7 /etc/passwd"
140.Pp
141Show the names and login times of the currently logged in users:
142.Pp
143.Dl "who | cut -c 1-16,26-38"
144.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
145.Ex -std
146.Sh SEE ALSO
147.Xr paste 1
148.Sh STANDARDS
149The
150.Nm
151utility conforms to
152.St -p1003.2-92 .
153.Sh HISTORY
154A
155.Nm
156command appeared in
157.Tn AT&T
158System III
159.Ux .
160.Sh BUGS
161The
162.Fl c
163option is a synonym for the
164.Fl b
165option, which causes incorrect behaviour in locales that support
166multibyte characters.
167.Pp
168When operating on fields
169.Fl ( f
170option is specified),
171.Nm
172does not recognise multibyte characters, and the
173.Ar delim
174character is recognised in the middle of multibyte sequences.
175