Field Extractor
Pull specific columns or character ranges out of every line — a friendly browser cut/awk. Use 1-based selectors with negative indices (-1 = last), ranges (2-4), open-ended ranges (3-), and reordering (3,1,2).
About this field extractor
This tool pulls specific columns or character ranges out of every line of text —
think of it as a friendly, browser-local version of the Unix cut and awk
column tricks, with no files to upload and no command line to remember.
Paste your text, pick Fields or Characters, and describe what you want with 1-based selectors:
alice 30 engineer
bob 25 designer
carol 41 writer
Selecting fields 1,3 with a blank delimiter (whitespace) gives:
alice engineer
bob designer
carol writer
Selector syntax
- Single columns:
1,3(1-based, counted from the left). - Negative indices:
-1is the last field,-2the second-to-last — no need to know how many columns each line has. - Ranges:
2-4takes fields 2, 3 and 4.4-2reverses them. - Open-ended ranges:
3-takes field 3 through the end (likecut). - Reordering: selectors emit in the order you write them, so
3,1,2moves column 3 to the front. - Endpoints can be negative too:
-3--1is the last three fields,-2-is the last two.
Delimiters
Leave Delimiter blank to split on runs of whitespace (tabs and multiple
spaces collapse, like awk). Otherwise type any delimiter: a comma, a pipe |, a
multi-character string like ::, a keyword (tab, comma, pipe,
semicolon, colon, space), or an escape (\t, \n).
The output delimiter controls how the extracted pieces are joined. Blank
reuses the input delimiter; set it to \t, a comma, or the keyword newline to
put each extracted piece on its own line.
Character mode
Switch to Characters to cut by character position instead of by column —
useful for fixed-width codes and IDs. 1-4 keeps the first four characters of
every line. Character mode counts Unicode code points, so accented letters and
emoji are never split in half.
Options and limits
- An explicitly numbered single field that is out of range emits an empty
string (matching
cut); a range simply stops at the last available field. - Trim removes surrounding whitespace from each extracted field.
- Skip empty lines drops blank or whitespace-only lines from the output.
- Skip header row ignores the first line before extracting.
- This is a simple splitter, not an RFC-4180 CSV parser: it does not understand quoted fields that contain the delimiter. For quoted CSV, use the dedicated CSV tools instead.
Everything runs locally in your browser. Your text is never uploaded.
FAQ
How do I get the last column when rows have different widths?
Use -1 as the selector. Negative indices count from the end of each line, so
-1 is always the last field and -2 the second-to-last, regardless of how
many columns a given row has.
What does a blank delimiter do?
A blank delimiter splits on runs of whitespace and collapses them, exactly like
awk's default field splitting. So a b\tc becomes three fields. Type a
specific delimiter (comma, |, ::, \t, …) to split on that instead.
Can I reorder or reverse columns?
Yes. Selectors emit in the order you write them, so 3,1,2 puts column 3 first.
A descending range like 4-1 reverses fields 1 through 4.
How is character mode different from field mode?
Field mode splits each line into columns by a delimiter and selects whole
columns. Character mode ignores delimiters and selects by character position, so
1-4 keeps the first four characters of every line — handy for fixed-width IDs.
It is Unicode-safe and never splits a multi-byte character.
Does it handle quoted CSV fields?
No. This is a plain splitter, like cut -d, so a comma inside a quoted field is
treated as a separator. For proper RFC-4180 CSV with quoted fields, use the
dedicated CSV column tools.
Developer & Automation Access
Run it from the terminal
Same engine as this page, headless — via the gizza CLI:
gizza tool field-extractor "alice 30 engineer
bob 25 designer
carol 41 writer" 'selectors=1,3 or 2-4 or -1'New to the CLI? Get gizza →
Open it by URL
Pre-fill and auto-run this tool with query parameters — the names match the API/CLI:
https://gizza.ai/tools/field-extractor/?text=alice%2030%20engineer%0Abob%2025%20designer%0Acarol%2041%20writer&mode=fields&selectors=1%2C3%20%20or%20%202-4%20%20or%20%20-1&delimiter=blank%2C%20comma%2C%20%7C%2C%20%3A%3A%2C%20%5Ct&output_delimiter=blank%2C%20comma%2C%20%5Ct%2C%20newline&trim=true&skip_empty_lines=true&skip_header=trueMachine-readable descriptor: tool.json — title + parameters JSON Schema for agents.