CUT(1)

NAME
cut - remove sections from each line of files

SYNOPSIS
cut OPTION... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

Print selected parts of lines from each FILE to standard output.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-b, --bytes=LIST
    select only these bytes

-c, --characters=LIST
    select only these characters

-d, --delimiter=DELIM
    use DELIM instead of TAB for field delimiter

-f, --fields=LIST
    select only these fields; also print any line that contains no delimiter character, unless the -s option is specified

-n  (ignored)

--complement
    complement the set of selected bytes, characters or fields

-s, --only-delimited
    do not print lines not containing delimiters

--output-delimiter=STRING
    use STRING as the output delimiter; the default is to use the input delimiter

-z, --zero-terminated
    line delimiter is NUL, not newline

--help
    display this help and exit

--version
    output version information and exit

Use one, and only one of -b, -c or -f. Each LIST is made up of one range, or many ranges separated by commas. Selected input is written in the same order that it is read, and is written exactly once. Each range is one of:

N   N'th byte, character or field, counted from 1

N-  from N'th byte, character or field, to end of line

N-M from N'th to M'th (included) byte, character or field

-M  from first to M'th (included) byte, character or field

AUTHOR
Written by David M. Ihnat, David MacKenzie, and Jim Meyering.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/cut>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) cut invocation'