OK, understood. And yes, in my experience AWK is less good at that, cut would definitely be the right tool.
It doesn't detract from the point at hand - which is perfectly valid - but it's worth noting that there's a confusion here with regards the terminology: "fields" vs "columns". I thought they were referring to "columns of characters" whereas the added explanations[0] are about "columns of fields". That makes a difference.
But as I say, yes, I agree that to select a range of columns of fields, especially several fields from each line, is definitely better with cut.
It doesn't detract from the point at hand - which is perfectly valid - but it's worth noting that there's a confusion here with regards the terminology: "fields" vs "columns". I thought they were referring to "columns of characters" whereas the added explanations[0] are about "columns of fields". That makes a difference.
But as I say, yes, I agree that to select a range of columns of fields, especially several fields from each line, is definitely better with cut.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22109551