Field Separator

Definitions

1. A character or string used to delimit fields in a record. In Unix tools like AWK and cut, the field separator (FS or -d) determines how lines are split into columns. Common separators include commas (CSV), tabs (TSV), and pipes.

   In plain English: The character that marks where one column ends and the next begins in text data — like the commas in a CSV file.

   Example: "Set FS="," in AWK and suddenly it parses CSV files — just watch out for quoted fields."

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