cut and paste in Bash Scripting - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Output of cut command with delimiter and field

What is the output of this command when run on the file data.txt containing:

apple,banana,cherry
dog,elephant,fox

Command:

cut -d',' -f2 data.txt

Bash Scripting

cut -d',' -f2 data.txt

A

cherry
fox

B

apple
dog

C

banana
elephant

D

apple,banana,cherry
dog,elephant,fox

💡 Hint

The -d option sets the delimiter, and -f selects the field number.

The command cuts the second field separated by commas, so it outputs 'banana' and 'elephant' each on a new line.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Paste command combining two files

Given two files:

file1.txt:
1
2
3

file2.txt:
a
b
c

What is the output of:

paste file1.txt file2.txt

Bash Scripting

paste file1.txt file2.txt

A

1
2
3
a
b
c

B

1  a
2  b
3  c

C

1a
2b
3c

D

1	a
2	b
3	c

💡 Hint

Paste joins lines from files side by side separated by tabs by default.

Paste combines lines from both files separated by a tab character, so each line from file1.txt is joined with the corresponding line from file2.txt.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Correct cut command to extract characters

Which option correctly extracts characters 3 to 5 from each line of input.txt?

A cut -f3-5 input.txt

B cut -c3-5 input.txt

C cut -d3-5 input.txt

D cut -c3,5 input.txt

💡 Hint

Use -c to select character positions.

Option B uses -c3-5 to select characters from position 3 to 5. Option B uses fields which is incorrect here. Option B uses an invalid delimiter. Option B selects characters 3 and 5 only, not the range.

💻 Command Output

advanced

Output of paste with custom delimiter

Given two files:

names.txt:
John
Jane

ages.txt:
30
25

What is the output of:

paste -d ':' names.txt ages.txt

Bash Scripting

paste -d ':' names.txt ages.txt

A

John:30
Jane:25

B

John 30
Jane 25

C

John:Jane
30:25

D

John
Jane
30
25

💡 Hint

The -d option sets the delimiter between pasted columns.

Paste joins lines from both files with ':' as delimiter, so each name is joined with the corresponding age separated by a colon.

🚀 Application

expert

Combine cut and paste to swap columns

You have a file data.csv with comma-separated values:

red,apple
blue,berry
green,grape

Which command sequence swaps the two columns so output is:

apple,red
berry,blue
grape,green

A paste -d',' <(cut -d',' -f2 data.csv) <(cut -d',' -f1 data.csv)

B cut -d',' -f2 data.csv | paste -d',' - <(cut -d',' -f1 data.csv)

C cut -d',' -f2 data.csv > temp1; cut -d',' -f1 data.csv > temp2; paste -d',' temp1 temp2

D cut -d',' -f1 data.csv | paste -d',' - <(cut -d',' -f2 data.csv)

💡 Hint

Use process substitution to cut columns and paste them in swapped order.

Option A correctly cuts the second column first, then the first column, and pastes them with comma delimiter, swapping columns. Option A pipes first cut but incorrectly uses paste with pipe and process substitution causing mismatch. Option A uses temp files but is correct in output; however, it is less elegant and not a single command sequence. Option A pastes original order, not swapped.