How do I extract certain columns from a text file in Unix?

Somehow I can never remember the cut command in Unix. But I occasionally want to remove certainly columns from a text file of data. cut will do that, and can even handle different column delimiters.

Here is a simple example.

Data File (tab-delimited)

111     222     3333    444     555     666
111     222     3333    444     555     666
111     222     3333    444     555     666
111     222     3333    444     555     666
111     222     3333    444     555     666

Command

cut -f1,4,6 filename

Output

111     444     666
111     444     666
111     444     666
111     444     666
111     444     666

There are two other examples in the Search and Replace section of this KB article.
http://kb.ucla.edu/articles/unix-cheat-sheets-and-tricks

More options are available in the Unix man pages for cut. Type man cut