When editing paths, you might find you need to cut or split a path at a certain point. With the Scissors tool selected, you can click any topmost vector path (selected or not) to cut the path. In essence, you create two anchor points by doing this. The Scissors tool can cut only one path at a time.

The Knife tool is much like the Scissors tool, only you cut or split a path by dragging the pointer across a path instead of clicking it. Whereas using the Scissors tool results in an open path, using the Knife tool results in at least two closed paths. The Knife tool cuts through multiple paths when nothing is selected, but cuts through only objects that are selected (even if those selected objects appear beneath other objects).

Using the Scissors or Knife tool is unwieldy at best, and you may find that if you’re doing a lot of path editing, you’ll get better results using Live Paint groups.