cut out selected fields of each line of a file

-d  delim
       Set the field delimiter to the character delim. The default is the <tab>.

-f  list
       Cut  based  on a list of fields, assumed to be separated in the file by a delimiter character (see
       -d). Each selected field shall be output. Output fields shall be separated by a single  occurrence
       of  the  field delimiter character. Lines with no field delimiters shall be passed through intact,
       unless -s is specified. It shall not be an error to select fields not present in the input line.

Pipelines
    A  pipeline is a sequence of one or more commands separated by one of the control operators | or |&.  The
    format for a pipeline is:

           [time [-p]] [ ! ] command [ [|⎪|&] command2 ... ]

    The standard output of command is connected  via  a  pipe  to  the  standard  input  of  command2.   This
    connection  is performed before any redirections specified by the command (see REDIRECTION below).  If |&
    is used, the standard error of command is connected to command2's standard input through the pipe; it  is
    shorthand  for  2>&1  |.   This  implicit  redirection  of  the  standard  error  is  performed after any
    redirections specified by the command.

    The return status of a pipeline is the exit status of the last command, unless  the  pipefail  option  is
    enabled.   If  pipefail  is  enabled,  the  pipeline's return status is the value of the last (rightmost)
    command to exit with a non-zero status, or zero if all commands exit successfully.  If the reserved  word
    !   precedes  a  pipeline, the exit status of that pipeline is the logical negation of the exit status as
    described above.  The shell waits for all commands in the pipeline to terminate before returning a value.

    If the time reserved word precedes a pipeline, the elapsed as well as user and system  time  consumed  by
    its execution are reported when the pipeline terminates.  The -p option changes the output format to that
    specified by POSIX.  When the shell is in posix mode, it does not recognize time as a  reserved  word  if
    the  next  token begins with a `-'.  The TIMEFORMAT variable may be set to a format string that specifies
    how the timing information should be displayed; see the description of TIMEFORMAT under  Shell  Variables
    below.

    When the shell is in posix mode, time may be followed by a newline.  In this case, the shell displays the
    total user and system time consumed by the shell and its children.  The TIMEFORMAT variable may  be  used
    to specify the format of the time information.

    Each command in a pipeline is executed as a separate process (i.e., in a subshell).

report or filter out repeated lines in a file

-c     Precede each output line with a count of the number of times the line occurred in the input.

sort, merge, or sequence check text files

-n     Restrict the sort key to an initial numeric string,  consisting  of  optional  <blank>s,  optional
       minus  sign, and zero or more digits with an optional radix character and thousands separators (as
       defined in the current locale), which shall be sorted by arithmetic value. An empty  digit  string
       shall be treated as zero.  Leading zeros and signs on zeros shall not affect ordering.