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.
