Delimited Text Extractor
This delimited text extractor pulls chosen fields out of every line — the browser equivalent of cut or awk, without needing a shell. Field numbers start at 1 and are emitted in the order you list them, so asking for fields 3 and 1 both selects and reorders in one step. A field that does not exist on a particular line comes out empty rather than shifting everything after it along, which keeps the output rectangular even when the input is ragged. The delimiter can be a literal character or a regular expression, which handles the common case of columns separated by an unpredictable run of spaces.
How it works
Pulls chosen columns out of every line — the browser equivalent of cut or awk. Field numbers start at 1 and are emitted in the order you list them, so 3, 1 reorders as well as selects.
A field that does not exist on a line comes out empty rather than shifting the rest along, which keeps the output rectangular when the input is ragged.
Everything runs in your browser — nothing you paste is sent to a server.
0 lines in · 0 out · 0 characters.
cut and awk, without a shell
cut -d, -f3,1 is the classic way to do this, and it needs the data in a file on a machine with a
shell. When someone has pasted the lines into a ticket or a chat, this is faster.
Reordering as well as selecting
The output order follows the order you type, not the order of the columns. Asking for 3, 1 gives the
third field then the first — which is one operation here and two steps almost anywhere else.
Ragged input stays rectangular
Real log and export lines are not uniform. If line 40 is missing a trailing field, a tool that simply skips it shifts every subsequent column left and the output silently misaligns. Here a missing field is emitted as empty, so the columns stay where they belong.
Common use cases
- Pulling two columns out of a wide CSV export.
- Extracting the timestamp and message from log lines.
- Reordering columns before pasting into a spreadsheet.
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract specific columns?
Paste your delimited text, set the delimiter, and list the field numbers you want. They are extracted in the order you list them.
Do field numbers start at 0 or 1?
At 1, matching the convention used by cut and awk. Field 1 is the first column.
Can I reorder columns?
Yes. Listing 3, 1 outputs the third field first and the first field second, so selection and reordering happen in one pass.
What if a line has fewer fields?
The missing field comes out empty. Nothing shifts along, so the columns stay aligned across every line.
How do I handle inconsistent spacing?
Turn on "Delimiter is a pattern" and use something like \s+ to split on any run of whitespace, which is what fixed-width and log output usually needs.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Extraction happens entirely in your browser.
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