cuts is a command-line utility that enhances the traditional Unix/POSIX cut tool for extracting columns from text files.
It is designed to keep the interface simple while handling more awkward real-world data, including mixed delimiters, flexible column selection, and side-by-side extraction from multiple files.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Automatically detects common input delimiters such as commas, tabs, and whitespace sequences.
- Supports multi-character and Perl regular expression delimiters for more complex parsing tasks.
- Handles negative column numbers, letting you select fields relative to the end of a line.
- Supports reverse ranges and wrap-around ranges for flexible field ordering.
- Can extract and join columns from multiple files in a single command.
- Uses sensible defaults, including standard input as a source and a tab as the default output delimiter.
- Allows personal configuration through an optional
~/.cuts.plfile. - Treats missing fields leniently by outputting empty values instead of failing.
Website: github.com/arielf/cuts
Support:
Developer: Ariel Faigon
License: Artistic License 2.0

cuts is written in Perl. Learn Perl with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Alternatives to cut | |
|---|---|
| hck | Drop-in replacement that can use a regex delimiter instead of a fixed string |
| tuc | Drop-in replacement for cut |
| choose | Human-friendly and fast alternative to cut |
| ccut | Colum's cut |
| cuts | Perl command-line utility |
| xcut | Extends the traditional Unix cut tool |
Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category.The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form. |


Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.