linux cut command with delimiter

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
cut -d ':' -f 1 /path/to/file  # opens selected file
                               # splits each file row into columns by ":"
                               # prints only field 1 (column 1) for each row

# Practical example:

cut -d ':' -f 1 /home/john/examples/file1.txt


# Example input (file1.txt):
#
#   row1_column1:row1_column2:row1_column3
#   row2_column1:row2_column2:row2_column3
#   row3_column1:row3_column2:row3_column3


# Example output:
#
#   row1_column1
#   row2_column1
#   row3_column1

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
cut -d ':' -f 2-3 /path/to/file  # opens selected file
                                 # splits each file row into columns by ":"
                                 # prints only fields from 2 to 3 (2 and 3 column) for each row

# Practical example:

cut -d ':' -f 1 /home/john/examples/file1.txt


# Example input (file1.txt):
#
#   row1_column1:row1_column2:row1_column3
#   row2_column1:row2_column2:row2_column3
#   row3_column1:row3_column2:row3_column3


# Example output:
#
#   row1_column2:row1_column3
#   row2_column2:row2_column3
#   row3_column2:row3_column3

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
cat /path/to/file | cut -d ':' -f 1  # opens selected file with cat command
                                     # streams file content to cut command
                                     # splits each file row into columns by ":"
                                     # prints only field 1 (column 1) for each row

# Practical example:

cat home/john/examples/file1.txt | cut -d ':' -f 1


# Example input (file1.txt):
#
#   row1_column1:row1_column2:row1_column3
#   row2_column1:row2_column2:row2_column3
#   row3_column1:row3_column2:row3_column3


# Example output:
#
#   row1_column1
#   row2_column1
#   row3_column1