NAME

cat − catenate and print

SYNOPSIS

cat [ −u ] [ −n ] [ −b ] [ −s ] [ −v ] [ −e ] [ −t ] 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. 

−u makes the output completely unbuffered. 

−n displays the output lines preceded by lines numbers, numbered sequentially from 1. 

−b the same as the −n option, but omits the line numbers from blank lines. 

−s crushes out multiple adjacent empty lines so that the output is displayed single spaced. 

−v displays non-printing characters so that they are visible.  Control characters print like ^X for control-X; the delete character (octal 0177) prints as ^?.  Non-printing characters with the high bit set are printed as M- (for meta) followed by the character of the low 7 bits. 

−e the same as the −v option, but displays a $ character at the end of each line. 

−t the same as the −v option, but 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. 

NEWS-OSRelease 4.2.1R