Use the fields CLI command as a modern replacement for awk + cut.
With fields you specify which columns of text you want, in a flexible format.
Getting Started
Download from releases
Available to download pre-compiled binaries on releases
Build from source
The fields command can be installed via Go by running
$ go install github.com/shoenig/fields@latest
Example Usages
select a single column (from left)
$ fields 3 <<< "a b c d e f g" c
select a single column (from right)
$ fields -- -3 <<< "a b c d e f g" e
select multiple columns
$ fields 1,-1,2,-2 <<< "a b c d e f g" a g b f
select columns to the right of N (from left)
$ fields 4: <<< "a b c d e f g" d e f g
select columns to the right of N (from right)
$ fields -- -2: <<< "a b c d e f g" f g
select columns to the left of N (from left)
$ fields :2 <<< "a b c d e f g" a b
select columns to the left of N (from right)
$ fields :-2 <<< "a b c d e f g" a b c d e f
select range of columns
$ fields 2:5 <<< "a b c d e f g" b c d e
any combination of the above, all together
$ fields 1,2,-2,3:5,2:,:-3 <<< "a b c d e f g" a b f c d e b c d e f g a b c d e
License
The github.com/shoenig/fields module is open source under the MIT license.