why does "cut" print fields in original order?
 

nitpicky, yes, but it occasionally irritates me that "cut" will
print fields, not in the order you specify them with the "-f" option,
but in the original order in the source text, to wit:

$ cut -d: -f1,7 /etc/passwd
root:/bin/bash
bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:/sbin/nologin
...

$ cut -fd: -f7,1 /etc/passwd
root:/bin/bash
bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:/sbin/nologin
...

is there really a reason that cut refuses to acknowledge the order
of the fields as supplied by the user? some historical reason,
perhaps, that we can now all make fun of and wonder what they were
smoking at the time?

rday

================================================== ======================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

http://crashcourse.ca
================================================== ======================

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why does "cut" print fields in original order?
 

Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> nitpicky, yes, but it occasionally irritates me that "cut" will
> print fields, not in the order you specify them with the "-f" option,
> but in the original order in the source text, to wit:
>
> $ cut -d: -f1,7 /etc/passwd
> root:/bin/bash
> bin:/sbin/nologin
> daemon:/sbin/nologin
> ...
>
> $ cut -fd: -f7,1 /etc/passwd
> root:/bin/bash
> bin:/sbin/nologin
> daemon:/sbin/nologin
> ...
>
> is there really a reason that cut refuses to acknowledge the order
> of the fields as supplied by the user? some historical reason,
> perhaps, that we can now all make fun of and wonder what they were
> smoking at the time?

I don't see any indication from the man page that would lead one to believe
that cut will print in the order listed. I think you are simply implying a
behavior that was never intended.

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