Cheat Sheet: Cutting Text with cut None Written byBenjamin Cane on 2012/10/22bencane.com/2012/10/22/cheat-sheet-cutting-text-with-cutThe cut command is a Unix/Linux tool used to literally cut text from files and output from othercommands. With the cut command a user can take text and output only certain parts of the line.In my opinion cut is the most under recognized and utilized command in Linux/Unix. This is mostly dueto the fact that when most Sysadmins want to cut text from files or standard output many will reach forAWK.While AWK is a great tool for quick and dirty commands; I tend to reach for cut before AWK. The belowcheat sheet should show many ways to use cut with every day tasks.Common Separated ValuesPrint the first field out of a CSV file $ cut -d: -f1 passwd.bak root daemonPrint the first field out of CSV output from another command $ head -1 /etc/passwd | cut -d: -f1 rootPrint the first, second, and seventh field out of a CSV fileTo change the field simply change the numbers after -f separated by a comma. $ cut -d: -f1,2,7 passwd.bak root:x:/bin/bashPrint text based on Spaces $ cut -d -f3 /etc/motd UbuntuPrint the fourth field and everything after that from a commandThis command is pretty handy if you wanted to make a script out of the past few commands you ran. $ history | cut -d -f 4- ping google.comPrint up to the 4th field $ cut -d -f-4 /etc/motd Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04Print all fields between 5 and 8 $ cut -d: -f5-8 passwd root:/root:/bin/bashOutput with a different delimiter (make a CSV)Convert : to , $ cut --output-delimiter=, -d: -f1- passwd root,x,0,0,root,/root,/bin/bashConvert space to , $ ps -elf | cut --output-delimiter=, -d -f1- F,S,UID,,,,,,,,PID,,PPID,,C,PRI,,NI,ADDR,SZ,WCHAN,,STIME,TTY,,,,,,,,,,TIME,CMD 4,S,root,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,0,,0,,80,,,0,-,,6083,poll_s,19:07,?,,,,,,,,00:00:12,/sbin/initOutput only lines that have a delimiterThis command will only output lines that have a : (in our example), within the file tmpfile there aremultiple lines some with : and some without. $ head tmpfile Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.2.0-29-generic x86_64) 73 packages can be updated. 10 updates are security updates. root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/bin/sh bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/bin/sh sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/bin/sh sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync $ cut -s -d: -f1-4 tmpfile root:x:0:0 daemon:x:1:1 bin:x:2:2 sys:x:3:3 sync:x:4:65534BytesPrint bytes 1 through 45 $ cut -b1-45 /etc/motd Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.2.0-Print everything but bytes 10 through 45 $ cut --complement -b10-45 /etc/motd Welcome t29-generic x86_64)CharactersPrint characters 1 through 25 $ cut -c1-25 /etc/motd Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04 LPrint everything but characters 10 through 25 $ cut --complement -c10-25 /etc/motd Welcome tTS (GNU/Linux 3.2.0-29-generic x86_64)