choose
A command-line tool for selecting fields from text, meant as a simpler alternative to cut and awk.
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About choose
choose picks columns out of lines of text with a terse syntax modelled on Python list slices. Fields are zero-indexed, negative indexes count from the end of the line, ranges can omit a start or end and can be reversed, and fields can be split on a regular expression.
It covers the common case where people reach for awk just to print a column, with less typing. The project reports it is slightly faster than cut on long inputs and much faster than awk.
Strengths
- Short, Python-style slice syntax
- Negative indexing from the end of a line
- Regular expression field separators
Limitations
- Only selects fields, not a full replacement for awk
- Not installed by default like cut
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source.
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Developer
- Ryan Geary
- Platforms
- Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Terminal users who want an easier way to pull columns out of text
- Categories
- CLI tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to choose
Compare allSoftware that can replace choose for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
hck
A close replacement for the cut command that accepts regex delimiters and reorders output columns.
hck stays closer to cut's column selection while adding regex delimiters and column reordering, under MIT or Unlicense instead of GPL-3.0.
GNU Coreutils
The core GNU file, shell and text utilities, including ls, cp, mv and sort.
GNU Coreutils provides the standard cut command, installed by default on most Linux systems, but without negative indexing or regex separators.
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jc
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qsv
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csvkit
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