using cut command we can achive this:

see the example:

$cat line
abcd | fghfh | qwer | ertete

$cut -d"|" -f 1-3 line
abcd | fghfh | qwer

$cut -d"|" -f 4 line
ertete

consider that the data file is having the content as

abcd | fghfh | qwer | ertete

cat data | cut -d"|" -f -3

abcd | fghfh | qwer

cat data | cut -d"|" -f 4

cat data | sed -e "s/\(.*|\)/\1\n/"

abcd | fghfh | qwer |
ertete

Dear Friend,

You can use the following bash script.

var="abcd | fghfh | qwer | ertete";
var1=`echo $var| cut -c 1-20`;
echo 'line1='$var1;
var2=`echo $var|cut -c 22-28`;
echo 'line2='$var2;

We can also achieve it in the following way.This script will work,if you don't know the number of fields also.

str="abcd | fghfh | qwer | ertete"
echo $str
abcd | fghfh | qwer | ertete

$line1=echo $str | rev | cut -d '|' -f 2-  | rev

$line2=echo $str | rev | cut -d '|' -f 1 | rev

echo $line1 
abcd | fghfh | qwer

echo $line2
ertete

Dear Amit,
You can also use the below script.....

cat data
abcd | fghfh | qwer | ertete
aaaa | bbbbb | cccc | dddddd

while read input
do
line1=`echo $input|awk -F\| '{print $1" |" $2" |" $3}'`
line2=`echo $input|awk -F\| '{print $4}'`
echo "line1=$line1"
echo "line2=$line2"
done < data

line1=abcd  | fghfh  | qwer
line2= ertete
line1=aaaa  | bbbbb  | cccc
line2= dddddd