One Day One GNU/Linux Command
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cut -- CUT a specified part form the file and Print it on stdout.
Summary :
Print selected parts of lines from each file(s) to standard output.
Examples :
Create file1 with 10 columns (separated by TAB) of data for 10 lines
and file2 with 10 columns (separated by space) of data for 10 lines.
$ cut -b2 file1 -- Print only the byte in 2 position. Tab & Backspace
are treated like a 1 byte char.
$ cut -b1,3,5 file1 -- Print only the bytes in 1,3 & 5 positions.
$ cut -c2 file1 -- Print only character in 2nd position. Normally
same as -b option. But you can feel the difference
only with multi-byte encodings (Unicode).
$ cut -f5 file1 -- Print only the 6th field. TAB is default separator.
$ cut -f4- file1 -- Print from 4th field to last field.
$ cut -f-5 file1 -- Print from 1st field to 4th field.
$ cut -d' ' -f3-5 file2 -- Print only the fields from 3 to 5, which is
separated by spaces.
$ cut -s -d' ' -f2 file2 -- Don't print lines that don't contain the
delimiter,space (line without a delimiter
is printed verbatim).
$ cut -f2-5,7-9 --output-delimiter=',' file1 -- In the output, field
will be separated by "," (Not by the default one).
Note:
1) Use one, and only one of -b, -c or -f.
2) Range or many ranges can be separated by commas.
3) Range of Bytes/Chars/Fields can specified like this:
N == Only Nth byte, character or field.
N- == From Nth byte, character or field, to End of line.
N-M == From Nth to Mth (included) byte, character or field.
-M == From 1st to Mth (included) byte, character or field.
Read : man cut
HTH :)
--
Bharathi S
