CUT(1)                     OpenBSD Reference Manual                     CUT(1)

NAME
     cut - select portions of each line of a file

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

DESCRIPTION
     The cut utility selects portions of each line (as specified by list) from
     each file (or the standard input by default), and writes them to the
     standard output.  The items specified by list can be in terms of column
     position or in terms of fields delimited by a special character.  Column
     numbering starts from 1.

     list is a comma or whitespace separated set of numbers and/or number
     ranges.  Number ranges consist of a number, a dash (`-'), and a second
     number which select the fields or columns from the first number to the
     second, inclusive.  Numbers or number ranges may be preceded by a dash,
     which selects all fields or columns from 1 to the first number.  Numbers
     or number ranges may be followed by a dash, which selects all fields or
     columns 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 er-
     ror to select fields or columns 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 the first character of delim as the field delimiter charac-
             ter.  The default is the <TAB> character.

     -f list
             The list specifies fields, separated by the field delimiter char-
             acter.  The selected fields are output, separated by the field
             delimiter character.

     -n      Do not split multi-byte characters.

     -s      Suppresses lines with no field delimiter characters.  Unless
             specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodi-
             fied.

     The cut utility exits 0 on success or 1 if an error occurred.

EXAMPLES
     Extract 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 logged in users:

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

SEE ALSO
     paste(1)

STANDARDS
     The cut utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (``POSIX'')
     specification.

CAVEATS
     The current implementation does not support multi-byte characters.  Con-
     sequently -c does the same as -b, and -n has no effect.

OpenBSD 4.7                    January 23, 2010                              2
