CUT(1)                  FreeBSD General Commands Manual                 CUT(1)

NAME

     cut - cut out selected portions of each line of a file

SYNOPSIS

     cut -b list [-n] [file ...]
     cut -c list [file ...]
     cut -f list [-w | -d delim] [-s] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

     The cut utility cuts out selected portions of each line (as specified by
     list) from each file and writes them to the standard output.  If no file
     arguments are specified, or a file argument is a single dash (`-'), cut
     reads from the standard input.  The items specified by list can be in
     terms of column position or in terms of fields delimited by a special
     character.  Column and field numbering start from 1.

     The list option argument is a comma or whitespace separated set of
     increasing numbers and/or number ranges.  Number ranges consist of a
     number, a dash (`-'), and a second number and select the columns or
     fields from the first number to the second, inclusive.  Numbers or number
     ranges may be preceded by a dash, which selects all columns or fields
     from 1 to the last number.  Numbers or number ranges may be followed by a
     dash, which selects all columns or fields from the last number to the end
     of the line.  Numbers and number ranges may be repeated, overlapping, and
     in any order.  It is not an error to select columns or fields not present
     in the input line.

     The options are as follows:

     -b list   The list specifies byte positions.

     -c list   The list specifies character positions.

     -d delim  Use delim as the field delimiter character instead of the tab
               character.

     -f list   The list specifies fields, separated in the input by the field
               delimiter character (see the -d option).  Output fields are
               separated by a single occurrence of the field delimiter
               character.

     -n        Do not split multi-byte characters.  Characters will only be
               output if at least one byte is selected, and, after a prefix of
               zero or more unselected bytes, the rest of the bytes that form
               the character are selected.

     -s        Suppress lines with no field delimiter characters.  Unless
               specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through
               unmodified.

     -w        Use whitespace (spaces and tabs) as the delimiter.  Consecutive
               spaces and tabs count as one single field separator.

ENVIRONMENT

     The LANG, LC_ALL and LC_CTYPE environment variables affect the execution
     of cut as described in environ(7).

EXIT STATUS

     The cut utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

EXAMPLES

     Extract users' login names and shells from the system passwd(5) file as
     "name:shell" pairs:

           cut -d : -f 1,7 /etc/passwd

     Show the names and login times of the currently logged in users:

           who | cut -c 1-16,26-38

SEE ALSO

     colrm(1), paste(1)

STANDARDS

     The cut utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 ("POSIX.2").

     The -w flag is an extension to the specification.

HISTORY

     A cut command first appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.

AUTHORS

     The original Bell Labs version was written by Gottfried W. R. Luderer and
     the BSD version by Adam S. Moskowitz.

FreeBSD 15.1-STABLE-HBSD       November 6, 2022                         CUT(1)