CAT(1) General Commands Manual CAT(1)NAME
cat - catenate and print
SYNOPSIS
cat [ -u ] [ -n ] [ -s ] [ -v ] file ...
DESCRIPTION
Cat reads each file in sequence and displays it on the standard output. Thus
cat file
displays the file on the standard output, and
cat file1 file2 >file3
concatenates the first two files and places the result on the third.
If no input file is given, or if the argument `-' is encountered, cat reads from the standard input file. Output is buffered in the block
size recommended by stat(2) unless the standard output is a terminal, when it is line buffered. The -u option makes the output completely
unbuffered.
The -n option displays the output lines preceded by lines numbers, numbered sequentially from 1. Specifying the -b option with the -n
option omits the line numbers from blank lines.
The -s option crushes out multiple adjacent empty lines so that the output is displayed single spaced.
The -v option displays non-printing characters so that they are visible. Control characters print like ^X for control-x; the delete char-
acter (octal 0177) prints as ^?. Non-ascii characters (with the high bit set) are printed as M- (for meta) followed by the character of
the low 7 bits. A -e option may be given with the -v option, which displays a `$' character at the end of each line. Specifying the -t
option with the -v option displays tab characters as ^I.
SEE ALSO cp(1), ex(1), more(1), pr(1), tail(1)BUGS
Beware of `cat a b >a' and `cat a b >b', which destroy the input files before reading them.
4th Berkeley Distribution May 5, 1986 CAT(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
CAT(1) BSD General Commands Manual CAT(1)NAME
cat -- concatenate and print files
SYNOPSIS
cat [-benstuv] [file ...]
DESCRIPTION
The cat utility reads files sequentially, writing them to the standard output. The file operands are processed in command-line order. If
file is a single dash ('-') or absent, cat reads from the standard input. If file is a UNIX domain socket, cat connects to it and then reads
it until EOF. This complements the UNIX domain binding capability available in inetd(8).
The options are as follows:
-b Number the non-blank output lines, starting at 1.
-e Display non-printing characters (see the -v option), and display a dollar sign ('$') at the end of each line.
-n Number the output lines, starting at 1.
-s Squeeze multiple adjacent empty lines, causing the output to be single spaced.
-t Display non-printing characters (see the -v option), and display tab characters as '^I'.
-u The -u option guarantees that the output is unbuffered.
-v Display non-printing characters so they are visible. Control characters print as '^X' for control-X; the delete character (octal
0177) prints as '^?'. Non-ASCII characters (with the high bit set) are printed as 'M-' (for meta) followed by the character for the
low 7 bits.
DIAGNOSTICS
The cat utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
EXAMPLES
The command:
cat file1
will print the contents of file1 to the standard output.
The command:
cat file1 file2 > file3
will sequentially print the contents of file1 and file2 to the file file3, truncating file3 if it already exists. See the manual page for
your shell (i.e., sh(1)) for more information on redirection.
The command:
cat file1 - file2 - file3
will print the contents of file1, print data it receives from the standard input until it receives an EOF ('^D') character, print the con-
tents of file2, read and output contents of the standard input again, then finally output the contents of file3. Note that if the standard
input referred to a file, the second dash on the command-line would have no effect, since the entire contents of the file would have already
been read and printed by cat when it encountered the first '-' operand.
SEE ALSO head(1), more(1), pr(1), sh(1), tail(1), vis(1), zcat(1), setbuf(3)
Rob Pike, "UNIX Style, or cat -v Considered Harmful", USENIX Summer Conference Proceedings, 1983.
STANDARDS
The cat utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (``POSIX.2'') specification.
The flags [-benstv] are extensions to the specification.
HISTORY
A cat utility appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX. Dennis Ritchie designed and wrote the first man page. It appears to have been cat(1).
BUGS
Because of the shell language mechanism used to perform output redirection, the command ``cat file1 file2 > file1'' will cause the original
data in file1 to be destroyed!
BSD September 15, 2001 BSD