Include white spaces while using CUT command

Question

I tried to extract 11 characters (default) enclosed with in tag from a file using cut command. If the characters comprises a double space, the cut command gives the output with a single spacing.

The file I am working on looks like :

blablaFirst  lastblabla 

The command I have used is :

cut -c7-18 file.txt

The non desired result is (only one space instead of two between first and last) :

First last

Here is the main code :

c_line="file.txt"
targetfile="result.txt"
var1=0
while read c_line
do
var1=`grep -c "IIT   Chennai" $c_line`
echo $var1 >> $targetfile
if [ $var1 -ge 1 ]
then
val=`cut -c7-18 $c_line`
echo $var >> $targetfile

fi
done<${c_line}

I rather keep using cut

do you know what is the problem with cut ?

Answer 1

I'm assuming that this part of your script is a typo:

val=`cut -c7-18 $c_line`
echo $var >> $targetfile
#       ^ should be $val

So the problem is that you're using $val, when you should be using "$val".

When you expand a variable without quotes, word-splitting occurs, so echo sees two arguments:

echo 'First' 'last'

These arguments are printed, separated by a single space.