How to split a string in shell and get the last field

It's difficult to get the last field using cut, but here are some solutions in awk and perl

echo 1:2:3:4:5 | awk -F: '{print $NF}'
echo 1:2:3:4:5 | perl -F: -wane 'print $F[-1]'

You can use string operators:

$ foo=1:2:3:4:5
$ echo ${foo##*:}
5

This trims everything from the front until a ':', greedily.

${foo  <-- from variable foo
  ##   <-- greedy front trim
  *    <-- matches anything
  :    <-- until the last ':'
 }

Another way is to reverse before and after cut:

$ echo ab:cd:ef | rev | cut -d: -f1 | rev
ef

This makes it very easy to get the last but one field, or any range of fields numbered from the end.

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