How to Use the cut Command to Extract Text Columns in Linux

cut

Overview

Extract text columns from a file or stream.

Syntax

cut -d'delimiter' -f fields  # for specific delimiter
cut -c column_range          # for fixed-width aligned data

Options and parameters:

-d: specify delimiter, used with -f.

-f: select fields based on delimiter defined by -d.

-c: select character positions.

Examples

Create a file 1.txt with the following content: zhangsi:28:football:basketball:music:sing Extract the third field (football) using colon as delimiter: cut -d ':' -f 3 1.txt Extract the third and fifth fields (football and music): cut -d ':' -f 3,5 1.txt Extract from the third field to the end: cut -d ':' -f 3- 1.txt Extract fields three through five: cut -d ':' -f 3-5 1.txt Extract fields three through five and also the seventh field: cut -d ':' -f 3-5,7 1.txt Character‑based extraction example:

who | cut -c 3