cut

Divide a file into several parts (columns)
Writes to standard output selected parts of each line of each input file, or standard input if no files are given or for a file name of `-’.

Syntax
     cut [OPTION]... [FILE]...

In the options below, BYTE-LIST, CHARACTER-LIST, and FIELD-LIST are one or more numbers or ranges (two numbers separated by a dash)

Bytes, characters, and fields are are numbered starting at 1 and separated by commas.
Incomplete ranges may be given: -M means 1-M  ;  N- means N through end of line or last field.

Options

-b BYTE-LIST
--bytes=BYTE-LIST
     Print only the bytes in positions listed in BYTE-LIST.  Tabs and
     backspaces are treated like any other character; they take up 1
     byte.

-c CHARACTER-LIST
--characters=CHARACTER-LIST
     Print only characters in positions listed in CHARACTER-LIST.  The
     same as `-b' for now, but internationalization will change that.
     Tabs and backspaces are treated like any other character; they
     take up 1 character.

-f FIELD-LIST
--fields=FIELD-LIST
     Print only the fields listed in FIELD-LIST.  Fields are separated
     by a TAB character by default.

-d INPUT_DELIM_BYTE
--delimiter=INPUT_DELIM_BYTE
     For `-f', fields are separated in the input by the first character
     in INPUT_DELIM_BYTE (default is TAB).

-n
     Do not split multi-byte characters (no-op for now).

-s
--only-delimited
     For `-f', do not print lines that do not contain the field
     separator character.

--output-delimiter=OUTPUT_DELIM_STRING
     For `-f', output fields are separated by OUTPUT_DELIM_STRING The
     default is to use the input delimiter.

Example

Parse out column 2 from a semicolon (;) delimited file:

$ cat myfile.txt | cut -d \; -f 2 > output.txt