bash input/output redirect doesn't work

Question

Can anybody tell me what is wrong with the following bash code

for f in $FILES
do
  cut -d, f1-7 < $f > $f.tmp
done

When I run in the loop

echo "cut -d, f1-7 < $f > $f.tmp"

I get the right command output and when I run that command by itself, it works perfectly. But when I run it in the bash loop, it doesn't work, I get the following error:

cut: you must specify a list of bytes, characters, or fields
Try `cut --help' for more information.

Any ideas?

i think you might have forgotten "-" before "f1-7", and you might have to escape the comma — Qnan, Sep 22 '12 at 14:07
Yea, I'm an idiot, I just wasted half an hour cuz of that dash. — user788171, Sep 22 '12 at 14:12

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 22 '12 at 14:10

3

I think you miss a minus sign in your cut command:

cut -d, -f1-7 < $f > $f.tmp

answered Sep 22 '12 at 14:10

Stephane Rouberol

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bash input/output redirect doesn't work

1 Answers1