xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/cut/cut.1 (revision dd41de95a84d979615a2ef11df6850622bf6184e)
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31.\"     @(#)cut.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
32.\" $FreeBSD$
33.\"
34.Dd August 3, 2017
35.Dt CUT 1
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm cut
39.Nd cut out selected portions of each line of a file
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm
42.Fl b Ar list
43.Op Fl n
44.Op Ar
45.Nm
46.Fl c Ar list
47.Op Ar
48.Nm
49.Fl f Ar list
50.Op Fl w | Fl d Ar delim
51.Op Fl s
52.Op Ar
53.Sh DESCRIPTION
54The
55.Nm
56utility cuts out selected portions of each line (as specified by
57.Ar list )
58from each
59.Ar file
60and writes them to the standard output.
61If no
62.Ar file
63arguments are specified, or a file argument is a single dash
64.Pq Sq Fl ,
65.Nm
66reads from the standard input.
67The items specified by
68.Ar list
69can be in terms of column position or in terms of fields delimited
70by a special character.
71Column and field numbering start from 1.
72.Pp
73The
74.Ar list
75option argument
76is a comma or whitespace separated set of increasing numbers and/or
77number ranges.
78Number ranges consist of a number, a dash
79.Pq Sq \- ,
80and a second number
81and select the columns or fields from the first number to the second,
82inclusive.
83Numbers or number ranges may be preceded by a dash, which selects all
84columns or fields from 1 to the last number.
85Numbers or number ranges may be followed by a dash, which selects all
86columns or fields from the last number to the end of the line.
87Numbers and number ranges may be repeated, overlapping, and in any order.
88It is not an error to select columns or fields not present in the
89input line.
90.Pp
91The options are as follows:
92.Bl -tag -width indent
93.It Fl b Ar list
94The
95.Ar list
96specifies byte positions.
97.It Fl c Ar list
98The
99.Ar list
100specifies character positions.
101.It Fl d Ar delim
102Use
103.Ar delim
104as the field delimiter character instead of the tab character.
105.It Fl f Ar list
106The
107.Ar list
108specifies fields, separated in the input by the field delimiter character
109(see the
110.Fl d
111option).
112Output fields are separated by a single occurrence of the field delimiter
113character.
114.It Fl n
115Do not split multi-byte characters.
116Characters will only be output if at least one byte is selected, and,
117after a prefix of zero or more unselected bytes, the rest of the bytes
118that form the character are selected.
119.It Fl s
120Suppress lines with no field delimiter characters.
121Unless specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.
122.It Fl w
123Use whitespace (spaces and tabs) as the delimiter.
124Consecutive spaces and tabs count as one single field separator.
125.El
126.Sh ENVIRONMENT
127The
128.Ev LANG , LC_ALL
129and
130.Ev LC_CTYPE
131environment variables affect the execution of
132.Nm
133as described in
134.Xr environ 7 .
135.Sh EXIT STATUS
136.Ex -std
137.Sh EXAMPLES
138Extract users' login names and shells from the system
139.Xr passwd 5
140file as
141.Dq name:shell
142pairs:
143.Pp
144.Dl "cut -d : -f 1,7 /etc/passwd"
145.Pp
146Show the names and login times of the currently logged in users:
147.Pp
148.Dl "who | cut -c 1-16,26-38"
149.Sh SEE ALSO
150.Xr colrm 1 ,
151.Xr paste 1
152.Sh STANDARDS
153The
154.Nm
155utility conforms to
156.St -p1003.2-92 .
157.Pp
158The
159.Fl w
160flag is an extension to the specification.
161.Sh HISTORY
162A
163.Nm
164command appeared in
165.Tn AT&T
166System III
167.Ux .
168