cut
Remove sections from each line of input by column position or delimiter.
Synopsis
cut OPTION... [FILE]...
Examples
cut -d',' -f1,3 data.csv
cut -c1-10 file.txt
echo $PATH | cut -d: -f1
cut -d' ' -f2- log.txt
Common options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
| -d | Field delimiter (default: TAB) |
| -f | Select fields by number |
| -c | Select characters by position |
| -b | Select bytes by position |
| --complement | Invert selection |
About cut
The `cut` command remove sections from each line of input by column position or delimiter. Text viewing and editing commands are fundamental tools in any Linux user's toolkit.
Linux treats almost everything as a file, so the ability to quickly inspect, filter, transform, and edit file contents from the command line is critical. These commands are regularly combined with pipes and redirects to build powerful data-processing pipelines.
The command accepts 5 commonly used flags shown above, though the full set of options is available in the man page (`man cut`). The 4 examples on this page cover typical real-world usage patterns that you can copy and adapt for your own workflows.
Related commands
More File Viewing & Editing Commands
Other commands in the File Viewing & Editing category