xref: /dragonfly/usr.bin/cut/cut.1 (revision 36a3d1d6)
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35.\"     @(#)cut.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/cut/cut.1,v 1.9.2.5 2003/05/26 12:35:35 hmp Exp $
37.\" $DragonFly: src/usr.bin/cut/cut.1,v 1.4 2008/03/09 16:06:08 swildner Exp $
38.\"
39.Dd June 6, 1993
40.Dt CUT 1
41.Os
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm cut
44.Nd select portions of each line of a file
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Nm
47.Fl b Ar list
48.Op Fl n
49.Op Ar
50.Nm
51.Fl c Ar list
52.Op Ar
53.Nm
54.Fl f Ar list
55.Op Fl w | Fl d Ar delim
56.Op Fl s
57.Op Ar
58.Sh DESCRIPTION
59The
60.Nm
61utility selects portions of each line (as specified by
62.Ar list  )
63from each
64.Ar file
65and writes them to the standard output.
66If no
67.Ar file
68arguments are specified, or a file argument is a single dash
69.Pq Sq Fl ,
70.Nm
71reads from the standard input.
72The items specified by
73.Ar list
74can be in terms of column position or in terms of fields delimited
75by a special character.
76Column numbering starts from 1.
77.Pp
78The
79.Ar list
80option argument
81is a comma or whitespace separated set of increasing numbers and/or
82number ranges.
83Number ranges consist of a number, a dash
84.Pq Sq \- ,
85and a second number
86and select the fields or columns from the first number to the second,
87inclusive.
88Numbers or number ranges may be preceded by a dash, which selects all
89fields or columns from 1 to the first number.
90Numbers or number ranges may be followed by a dash, which selects all
91fields or columns from the last number to the end of the line.
92Numbers and number ranges may be repeated, overlapping, and in any order.
93It is not an error to select fields or columns not present in the
94input line.
95.Pp
96The options are as follows:
97.Bl -tag -width indent
98.It Fl b Ar list
99The
100.Ar list
101specifies byte positions.
102.It Fl c Ar list
103The
104.Ar list
105specifies character positions.
106.It Fl d Ar delim
107Use the first character of
108.Ar delim
109as the field delimiter character instead of the tab character.
110.It Fl f Ar list
111The
112.Ar list
113specifies fields, delimited in the input by a single tab character.
114Output fields are separated by a single tab character.
115.It Fl n
116Do not split multi-byte characters.
117.It Fl s
118Suppress lines with no field delimiter characters.
119Unless specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.
120.It Fl w
121Use whitespace (spaces and tabs) as the delimiter.
122Consecutive spaces and tabs count as one single field separator.
123.El
124.Pp
125The
126.Nm
127utility exits with 0 on success or 1 if an error occurred.
128.Sh SEE ALSO
129.Xr paste 1
130.Sh STANDARDS
131The
132.Nm
133utility conforms to
134.St -p1003.2-92 .
135