---
name: "cut"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/cut"
---

# cut(1)

select portions of each line of a file

## NAME

**cut** – select portions of each line of a file

## SYNOPSIS

**cut** **-b** *list* \[**-n**\] \[*file ...*\]

**cut** **-c** *list* \[*file ...*\]

**cut** **-f** *list* \[**-s**\] \[**-d** *delim*\] \[*file ...*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **cut** utility selects portions of each line (as specified by *list*) from each *file* and writes them to the standard output. If no *file* arguments are specified, or a file argument is a single dash (‘-’), **cut** reads from the standard input. The items specified by *list* can be in terms of column position or in terms of fields delimited by a special character. Column and field numbering starts from 1; output is in the same order as input, not in the order selected.

*list* is a comma or whitespace separated set of numbers and/or number ranges. Number ranges consist of a number, a dash (‘-’), and a second number which select the fields or columns from the first number to the second, inclusive. Numbers or number ranges may be preceded by a dash, which selects all fields or columns from 1 to the first number. Numbers or number ranges may be followed by a dash, which selects all fields or columns from the last number to the end of the line. Numbers and number ranges may be repeated, overlapping, and in any order. It is not an error to select fields or columns not present in the input line.

The options are as follows:

- **-b** *list*

  The *list* specifies byte positions.

- **-c** *list*

  The *list* specifies character positions.

- **-d** *delim*

  Use the first character of *delim* as the field delimiter character. The default is the ⟨TAB⟩ character.

- **-f** *list*

  The *list* specifies fields, separated by the field delimiter character. The selected fields are output, separated by the field delimiter character.

- **-n**

  Do not split multi-byte characters. A character is written to standard output if and only if the byte position holding its last byte is selected.

- **-s**

  Suppresses lines with no field delimiter characters. Unless specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.

## ENVIRONMENT

- LC\_CTYPE

  The character encoding [locale(1)](/locale/1.md). It decides which byte sequences form characters. If unset or set to "C", "POSIX", or an unsupported value, **-c** does the same as **-b**, **-n** has no effect, and **-d** uses the first byte of *delim*.

## EXIT STATUS

The **cut** utility exits 0 if all input files are output successfully, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## EXAMPLES

Extract login names and shells from the system [passwd(5)](/passwd/5.md) file as “name:shell” pairs:

```
$ cut -d : -f 1,7 /etc/passwd
```

Show the names and login times of logged in users:

```
$ who | cut -c 1-8,18-30
```

## SEE ALSO

[awk(1)](/awk/1.md), [paste(1)](/paste/1.md)

## STANDARDS

The **cut** utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.

## HISTORY

A **cut** command first appeared outside Bell Labs in AT&T System III UNIX and has been available since 4.3BSD-Reno.

## AUTHORS

The original Bell Labs version was written by Gottfried W. R. Luderer and the BSD version by Adam S. Moskowitz and Marciano Pitargue.