Having used Unix since before "cut" was apt to be on the machine, I'm used to using "sed" to extract what I want from a line, but "cut" is much easier:
apl$ cut -d : -f 5 /etc/passwd Unprivileged User System Administrator System Services Unknown User Sendmail User World Wide Web Server MySQL Server sshd Privilege separation Anthony Lawrence
Now that's not fun with sed.
Cut can also use character positions:
cut -c 1-8 /etc/passwd nobody:* root:*:0 daemon:* unknown: smmsp:*: www:*:70 mysql:*: sshd:*:7 apl:*:50
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More Articles by Tony Lawrence © 2009-11-07 Tony Lawrence
Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do. (Donald Knuth)
You can also use the substr function of expr to extract string data.
--BigDumbDinosaur
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cut Copyright © November 2003 Tony Lawrence
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