Us old UNIX guys would likely go for cut for this sort of task: cut -d " " -f1-2,4-5 file.txt where file.txt is: one two three four five and the r

Us old UNIX guys would likely go for cut for this sort of task: cut -d " " -f1-2,4-5 file.txt where file.txt is: one two three four five and the return is: one two four five