cut (Extract Data Sections)

Data Section Extraction with cut Command

The cut command is used to extract some data sections, which are usually called data fields. This command is useful when the data set already has a consistent structure like data in a table format.

cut command syntax

To explain the cut command, we use the same data file (purchase.txt) as in the previous section.

purchase.txt
274,Theresa,Webb,Apple,6,$19.2
357,Guy,Hawkins,Orange,3,$6.6
703,Devon,Lane,Apple,4,$12.8
994,Arlene,McCoy,Apple,4,$12.8
922,Ralph,Edwards,Bananas,3,$12.6
177,Savannah,Nguyen,Apple,6,$19.2
798,Marvin,McKinney,Grapes,7,$53.2
429,Courtney,Henry,Orange,3,$6.6
492,Floyd,Miles,Bananas,2,$8.4
738,Wade,Warren,Grapes,5,$38
130,Jerome,Bell,Grapes,6,$45.6
185,Esther,Howard,Bananas,4,$16.8
426,Robert,Fox,Bananas,6,$25.2
877,Cameron,Williamson,Apple,7,$22.4
556,Annette,Black,Grapes,4,$30.4

To extract product data from the file, run the command below.

Command Line - INPUT
cut -f 4 -d "," purchase.txt

The result will be like the one below.

Command Line - RESPONSE
Apple
Orange
Apple
Apple
Bananas
Apple
Grapes
:

If you want to save the result in a file, use redirection.

Command Line - INPUT
cut -f 4 -d "," purchase.txt > purchase_product.txt

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