why does "cut" print fields in original order?

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007, Ed Greshko wrote:

> 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.

i understand that that's not indicated on the man page.  on the other
hand, is there any reason that it *wasn't* done that way?  it would
seem that that would be an obvious enhancement and, certainly, that
would be more intuitive behaviour, no?

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

http://crashcourse.ca
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