cat — concatenate files and print on the standard output
Examples (TL;DR)
-
Print the contents of a file to the standard output:
cat file -
Concatenate several files into the target file:
cat file1 file2 > target_file -
Append several files into the target file:
cat file1 file2 >> target_file -
Number all output lines:
cat -n file -
Display non-printable and whitespace characters (with
M-prefix if non-ASCII):cat -v -t -e file
Synopsis
cat [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Description
Concatenate FILE(s) to standard output.
With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
- -A, --show-all
equivalent to -vET
- -b, --number-nonblank
number nonempty output lines, overrides -n
- -e
equivalent to -vE
- -E, --show-ends
display $ at end of each line
- -n, --number
number all output lines
- -s, --squeeze-blank
suppress repeated empty output lines
- -t
equivalent to -vT
- -T, --show-tabs
display TAB characters as ^I
- -u
(ignored)
- -v, --show-nonprinting
use ^ and M- notation, except for LFD and TAB
- --help
display this help and exit
- --version
output version information and exit
Examples
- cat f - g
Output f's contents, then standard input, then g's contents.
- cat
Copy standard input to standard output.
Reporting Bugs
GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
See Also
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/cat>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) cat invocation'
Referenced By
bidiv(1), catdoc(1), catppt(1), console(1), cpuset(7), devio(1), fetchlog(1), foomatic-rip(1), gio(1), groffer(1), iftab(5), kcc(1), ksh93(1), lz4(1), memcat(1), mksh(1), oggz-merge(1), parcat(1), perltie(1), petcat(1), pipebench(1), pmlogrewrite(1), proc(5), pv(1), sipcalc(1), srec_examples(1), systemd-socket-activate(1), text-vimcolor(1), ul(1), xls2csv(1), xmessage(1), xz(1).