bug#7076: Command required

[Bob Proulx]

Imran Shoaib wrote:
> How can we extract few characters from second or third line of a text
> file using cut command of Linux OS?

In the future please send discussion questions concerning the
coreutils to the coreutils mailing list instead of the bug-coreutils.
The bug-coreutils mailing list is for bug reports only and every email
message opens up a bug in the bug tracking system.  I am closing this
bug report but discussion may continue.  Thanks.

A good place for general help questions is address@hidden

> For example: to get 7-10 characters from 3rd line of a text file is
> required, what can be the command?

I would use sed for this.  Don't print by default (-n) and then print
the 3rd line.

  $ printf "1234567890\n1234567890\n1234567890\n" | sed -n 3p

If you want specific characters then you can delete the unwanted
ones.  This is a contrived example:

  $ printf "1234567890\n1234567890\n1234567890\n" | sed -n 
'3{s/^..\(..\).*/\1/;p;}'

Or you can chain commands together.  Print only the third line to a
command that pulls apart fields.

  $ printf "11 12 13\n21 22 23\n31 32 33\n" | awk 'NR==3{print$2}'
  32

  $ printf "11 12 13\n21 22 23\n31 32 33\n" | awk 'NR==3{print $2, $3}'
  32 33

> This E-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
> intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which
> they are addressed. If you have received this E-mail in error

In the future please do not include such useless and annoying
disclaimers in your email.  The terms are incompatible with a free
software mailing list.  If you cannot avoid this then please use one
of the many free email providers on the network.

Bob