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CUT(1)			FreeBSD	General	Commands 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 [-d delim] [-s] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
     The cut utility selects portions of each line (as specified by list) from
     each file and writes them to the standard output.	If no file arguments
     are specified, or a file argument is a single dash	(`-'), cut reads from
     the standard input.  The items specified by list can be in	terms of col-
     umn position or in	terms of fields	delimited by a special character.
     Column numbering starts from 1.

     The list option argument is a comma or whitespace separated set of
     increasing	numbers	and/or number ranges.  Number ranges consist of	a num-
     ber, a dash (`-'),	and a second number and	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 error 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 delim as the field delimiter character	instead	of the tab
	     character.

     -f	list
	     The list specifies	fields,	separated in the input by the field
	     delimiter character (see the -d option.)  Output fields are sepa-
	     rated by a	single occurrence of the field delimiter character.

     -n	     Do	not split multi-byte characters.  Characters will only be out-
	     put if at least one byte is selected, and,	after a	prefix of zero
	     or	more unselected	bytes, the rest	of the bytes that form the
	     character are selected.

     -s	     Suppress lines with no field delimiter characters.	 Unless	speci-
	     fied, lines with no delimiters are	passed through unmodified.

ENVIRONMENT
     The LANG, LC_ALL and LC_CTYPE environment variables affect	the execution
     of	the cut	utility.  Their	effect is described in environ(7).

EXAMPLES
     Extract users' 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 the currently logged in users:

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

DIAGNOSTICS
     The cut utility exits 0 on	success, and >0	if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO
     colrm(1), paste(1)

STANDARDS
     The cut utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (``POSIX.2'').

HISTORY
     A cut command appeared in AT&T System III UNIX.

FreeBSD	11.1			 June 28, 2004			  FreeBSD 11.1

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | ENVIRONMENT | EXAMPLES | DIAGNOSTICS | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | HISTORY

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