1cut(1) User Commands cut(1)
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6 cut - cut out selected fields of each line of a file
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9 cut -b list [-n] [file]...
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12 cut -c list [file]...
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15 cut -f list [-d delim] [-s] [file]...
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19 Use the cut utility to cut out columns from a table or fields from each
20 line of a file; in data base parlance, it implements the projection of
21 a relation. The fields as specified by list can be fixed length, that
22 is, character positions as on a punched card (-c option) or the length
23 can vary from line to line and be marked with a field delimiter charac‐
24 ter like TAB (-f option). cut can be used as a filter.
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27 Either the -b, -c, or -f option must be specified.
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30 Use grep(1) to make horizontal ``cuts'' (by context) through a file, or
31 paste(1) to put files together column-wise (that is, horizontally). To
32 reorder columns in a table, use cut and paste.
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35 The following options are supported:
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37 list A comma-separated or blank-character-separated list of
38 integer field numbers (in increasing order), with optional
39 − to indicate ranges (for instance, 1,4,7; 1−3,8; −5,10
40 (short for 1−5,10); or 3− (short for third through last
41 field)).
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44 -b list The list following -b specifies byte positions (for
45 instance, -b1-72 would pass the first 72 bytes of each
46 line). When -b and -n are used together, list is adjusted
47 so that no multi-byte character is split.
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50 -c list The list following -c specifies character positions (for
51 instance, -c1-72 would pass the first 72 characters of
52 each line).
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55 -d delim The character following -d is the field delimiter (-f
56 option only). Default is tab. Space or other characters
57 with special meaning to the shell must be quoted. delim
58 can be a multi-byte character.
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61 -f list The list following -f is a list of fields assumed to be
62 separated in the file by a delimiter character (see -d );
63 for instance, -f1,7 copies the first and seventh field
64 only. Lines with no field delimiters will be passed
65 through intact (useful for table subheadings), unless -s
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69 -n Do not split characters. When -b list and -n are used
70 together, list is adjusted so that no multi-byte character
71 is split.
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74 -s Suppresses lines with no delimiter characters in case of
75 -f option. Unless specified, lines with no delimiters will
76 be passed through untouched.
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80 The following operands are supported:
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82 file A path name of an input file. If no file operands are speci‐
83 fied, or if a file operand is −, the standard input will be
84 used.
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88 See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of cut when
89 encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (2^31 bytes).
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92 Example 1 Mapping user IDs
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95 A mapping of user IDs to names follows:
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98 example% cut -d: -f1,5 /etc/passwd
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102 Example 2 Setting current login name
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105 To set name to current login name:
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108 example$ name=`who am i | cut -f1 -d' '`
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113 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
114 that affect the execution of cut: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES,
115 and NLSPATH.
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118 The following exit values are returned:
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120 0 All input files were output successfully.
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123 >0 An error occurred.
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127 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
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132 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
133 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
134 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
135 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
136 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
137 │CSI │Enabled │
138 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
139 │Interface Stability │Standard │
140 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
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143 grep(1), paste(1), attributes(5), environ(5), largefile(5), stan‐
144 dards(5)
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147 cut: -n may only be used with -b
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152 cut: -d may only be used with -f
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157 cut: -s may only be used with -f
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162 cut: cannot open <file>
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164 Either file cannot be read or does not exist. If multiple files
165 are present, processing continues.
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168 cut: no delimiter specified
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170 Missing delim on -d option.
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173 cut: invalid delimiter
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178 cut: no list specified
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180 Missing list on -b, -c, or -f option.
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183 cut: invalid range specifier
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188 cut: too many ranges specified
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193 cut: range must be increasing
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198 cut: invalid character in range
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203 cut: internal error processing input
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208 cut: invalid multibyte character
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213 cut: unable to allocate enough memory
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220SunOS 5.11 29 Apr 1999 cut(1)