cut(1)							      General Commands Manual							    cut(1)

NAME

       cut - cut out (extract) selected fields of each line of a file

SYNOPSIS

       list [file]...

       list [file]...

       list char] [file]...

DESCRIPTION

       cuts out (extracts) columns from a table or fields from each line in a file; in data base parlance, it implements the projection of a rela-
       tion.  Fields as specified by list can be fixed length (defined in terms of character or byte position in a line when using the or option),
       or  the length can vary from line to line and be marked with a field delimiter character such as the tab character (when using the option).
       can be used as a filter; if no files are given, the standard input is used.

       When processing single-byte character sets, the and options are equivalent and produce identical results.  When processing multi-byte char-
       acter sets, when the and options are used together, their combined behavior is very similar, but not identical to the option.

   Options
       Options are interpreted as follows:

	      list	     A	comma-separated  list  of  integer byte option), character option), or field option) numbers, in increasing order,
			     with optional to indicate ranges.	For example:

				  Positions 1, 4, and 7.
				  Positions 1 through 3 and 8.
				  Positions 1 through 5 and 10.
				  Position 3 through last position.

	      Cut based on a list of bytes.
			     Each selected byte is output unless the option is also specified.

	      Cut based on character positions specified by
			     list extracts the first 72 characters of each line).

	      Where	     list is a list of fields assumed to be separated in the file by a delimiter character (see for  example,  copies  the
			     first  and  seventh  field only.  Lines with no field delimiters will be passed through intact (useful for table sub-
			     headings), unless is specified.

	      The character following
			     is the field delimiter option only).  Default is tab.  Space or other characters with special meaning  to	the  shell
			     must be quoted.  Adjacent field delimiters delimit null fields.  char may be an international code set character.

	      Do not split characters.
			     If  the  high end of a range within a list is not the last byte of a character, that character is not included in the
			     output.  However, if the low end of a range within a list is not the first byte of a character, the entire  character
			     is included in the output."

	      Suppresses lines with no delimiter characters when using
			     option.  Unless is specified, lines with no delimiters appear in the output without alteration.

   Hints
       Use to extract text from a file based on text pattern recognition (using regular expressions).  Use to merge files line-by-line in columnar
       format.	To rearrange columns in a table in a different sequence, use and See grep(1) and paste(1) for more information.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

   Environment Variables
       determines the interpretation of text as single and/or multi-byte characters.

       If is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of is used as a default for each unspecified or empty vari-
       able.   If  is  not  specified or is set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of If any internationalization
       variable contains an invalid setting, behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C".  See environ(5).

   International Code Set Support
       supports both single- and multi-byte character code sets.  International code set characters may be specified in  the  char  given  to  the
       option.	recognizes the international code set characters according to the locale specified in the environment variable.

EXAMPLES

       Password file mapping of user ID to user names:

       Set environment variable to current login name:

       Convert	file  containing  lines  of  arbitrary length into two files where contains the first 500 bytes (unless the 500th byte is within a
       multi-byte character), and contains the remainder of each line:

DIAGNOSTICS

       Line length must not exceed
		      characters or fields, including the new-line character (see limits(5).

       Missing	      or option or incorrectly specified list.	No error occurs if a line has fewer fields than the list calls for.

       list	      is empty.

WARNINGS

       does not expand tabs.  Pipe text through expand(1) if tab expansion is required.

       Backspace characters are treated the same as any other character.  To eliminate backspace characters before processing by use the  or  com-
       mand (see fold(1) and col(1)).

AUTHOR

       was developed by OSF and HP.

SEE ALSO

       grep(1), paste(1).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

																	    cut(1)