cut

Divide a file into several parts.

Syntax
       cut -b list [-n] [file ...]
       cut -c list [file ...]
       cut -f list [-d delim] [-s] [file ...]

Options
     -b list     The list specifies byte positions.

     -c list     The list specifies character positions.

     -d delim    Use the first character of the string delim as the field delimiter
                 character instead of the tab character.

     -f list     The list specifies fields, delimited in the input by a single
                 tab character.  Output fields are separated by a single tab
                 character.

     -n          Do not split multi-byte characters.

     -s          Suppresses lines with no field delimiter characters.  Unless
                 specified, lines with no delimiters are passed through unmodified.
                 

Notes
cut exits 0 on success, 1 if an error occurred.

“It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better... while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more” ~ Woody Allen

Related:

cut man page - Apple.com
fmt - Reformat paragraph text
fold - Wrap input lines to fit in specified width
head - Output the first part of file(s)
join - Join lines on a common field
paste - Merge lines of files
split - Split a file into fixed-size pieces
tail - Output the last part of files