title: Python Cut Example
body: <p>I'm looking for a way in python to achieve similar functionality to the unix <code>cut</code> utility.  I know I can make a system call and process my data that way but I'd like to make it a bit more "pythonic" and do it with python libraries.</p>
  
  <p>Example text</p>
  
  <pre><code>abcde:12345
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'd like to delimit on <code>:</code> and keep the second field:</p>
  
  <pre><code>cut -d':' -f2
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>to produce:</p>
  
  <pre><code>12345
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>thoughts?</p>