NAME

cat − catenate and print

SYNOPSIS

cat [ −u ] [ −n ] file ... 

DESCRIPTION

Cat reads each file in sequence and writes it on the standard output.  Therefore,

cat file

prints the file, and

cat file1 file2 >file3

concatenates the first two files and places the result on the third file. 

If no input file is given, or if the argument ‘−’ is encountered, cat reads from the standard input file.  Output is buffered in 1024-byte blocks unless the standard output is a terminal, in which case it is line buffered.  The −u option causes the output to be completely unbuffered. 

The option −n causes the output lines to be numbered sequentially from 1. 

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  —  @(#)cat.11.1%Q%%Y%