Unix / Linux Shell: Get Third Field Separated by Forward Slash (/) Delimiter

April 29, 2012April 29, 2012in BASH Shell last updated April 29, 2012

I‘m writing a shell script for automation purpose. The output the path of the current working directory is stored in $PWD or it can be obtained using the pwd command. How do I find out find out 3rd field separated by the forward slash (/) delimiter using $PWD under Unix like operating systems?

You can display selected parts of lines from each FILE or shell variable using any standard Unix command line utility.

cut Command Example

You can use the cut command as follows:

var="/home/vivek/foo/bar"
cut -d/ -f4 <<<"${var}"

To get the sample value from a shell variable called $PWD, enter:

cut -d/ -f4 <<<"${PWD}"

value=$(cut -d/ -f4 <<<"${PWD}")
echo "$value"

You can replace the variable name with the file name:

cut -d/ -f4 /path/to/file.name

Where,

-d/ : use / for field delimiter.
-f4 : Select only fourth field. Also print any line that contains no delimiter character, unless the -s option is specified.

awk Command Example

awk is a pattern scanning and text processing language. The syntax is as follows:

var="/home/vivek/foo/bar"
awk -F/ '{ print $4}' <<<"${var}"

value=$(awk -F/ '{ print $4}' <<<"${PWD}")
echo "$value"

You can replace the variable name with the file name:

awk -F/ '{ print $4}' /path/to/file.txt

Where,

-F/ : sets the field separator, FS, to /.

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

8 comment

Mishka says:
April 29, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Well, it’s somewhat blurry why exactly the 3rd component required. If it’s about getting parent directory of the current directory it can be solved as follows:
```
$ basename `dirname $PWD`
```
Of course there is a lot of ways to do that, but the cut(1) and awk(1) IMHO the most straightforward ones. Thanks!
In case of need the following prints exactly the “3rd” component in pure shell:
```
$ ( IFS=/ ; p="/home/vivek/foo/bar" ; set -- $p ; echo $4 )
foo
```
Reply Report comment
1. nixCraft says:
  April 29, 2012 at 5:50 pm
  Actually, I forgot about the last pure shell based solution. I appreciate your comment.
  Reply Report comment
JackR says:
May 5, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Sorry but <<< operator is new to me. What exactly do <<< operator and what is called?
Reply Report comment
1. nixCraft says:
  May 5, 2012 at 2:27 pm
  Here string
  Reply Report comment
2. Mishka says:
  May 5, 2012 at 7:16 pm
  This is the bash shortcut to Bourne shell’s
```
cmd << EOF
$foo
EOF
```
  Reply Report comment
  1. JackR says:
    May 7, 2012 at 3:43 pm
    @Vivek Gite
    @Mishka
    Thanks
    Reply Report comment
frhling says:
December 10, 2012 at 12:24 pm
If in 9th field($9) there is sth like: A/B/C and one needs C. how can we extract C and put it in output?
Reply Report comment
Prakash says:
September 19, 2013 at 12:07 pm
What if I want to add a foldername after every 2nd ‘/’.
Basically I’ve big list of files and I want to add one folder to the path of every file.
Help is appreciated !
Reply Report comment

nixCraft