xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/cut/cut.1 (revision b52b9d56d4e96089873a75f9e29062eec19fabba)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
6.\"
7.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9.\" are met:
10.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
16.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
17.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
18.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
19.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
20.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
21.\"    without specific prior written permission.
22.\"
23.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
24.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
25.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
26.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
27.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
28.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
29.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
30.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
31.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
32.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
33.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
34.\"
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 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 ,
123.Ev LC_ALL
124and
125.Ev LC_CTYPE
126environment variables affect the execution of
127.Nm
128if the
129.Fl n
130option is specified.
131Their effect is described in
132.Xr environ 7 .
133.Sh EXAMPLES
134Extract users' login names and shells from the system
135.Xr passwd 5
136file as
137.Dq name:shell
138pairs:
139.Pp
140.Dl "cut -d : -f 1,7 /etc/passwd"
141.Pp
142Show the names and login times of the currently logged in users:
143.Pp
144.Dl "who | cut -c 1-16,26-38"
145.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
146.Ex -std
147.Sh SEE ALSO
148.Xr paste 1
149.Sh STANDARDS
150The
151.Nm
152utility conforms to
153.St -p1003.2-92 .
154.Sh HISTORY
155A
156.Nm
157command appeared in
158.Tn AT&T
159System III
160.Ux .
161.Sh BUGS
162The
163.Fl c
164option is a synonym for the
165.Fl b
166option, which causes incorrect behaviour in locales that support
167multibyte characters.
168.Pp
169When operating on fields
170.Pq Fl f No option is specified ,
171.Nm
172does not recognise multibyte characters, and the
173.Ar delim
174character is recognised in the middle of multibyte sequences.
175