extract string

[Paul Lussier]

Zhao Peng <greenmt at gmail.com> writes:

> While the following line intended to remove quotes does NOT work:
> grep univ abc.txt | cut -f3 -d, | sed s/\"//g >> dev.txt
> It resulted in a line starts with ">" prompt, and not output dev.txt

I can't see any reason why what state should be happening.  As a
matter of fact, I tried that exact command line on my system and it
worked exactly as (specified|advertised|expected).

> Could you please double-check or modify it?

Well, I think you've received lots of good help.  Perhaps you should
spend some time reading the relevant man pages and trying to
understand exactly what has been offered so you double-check and/or
modify it ?

> Also, if one column is missing, and "," is used to indicate that
> missing column, like the following (2nd column of 3rd line is
> missing):
[...]
> Does the "cut" approach still apply? If not, what command would you
> suggest to address this missing issue?

man cut will answer this question.
-- 

Seeya,
Paul