CAT(1V) — USER COMMANDS
NAME
cat − concatenate and display
SYNOPSIS
cat [ − ] [ −benstuv ] [ filename... ]
SYSTEM V SYNOPSIS
cat [ − ] [ −estuv ] [ filename... ]
DESCRIPTION
cat reads each filename in sequence and displays it on the standard output. Thus:
example% cat goodies
displays the contents of goodies on the standard output, and
example% cat filename1 filename2 > filename3
concatenates the first two files and places the result on the third.
If no filename argument is given, or if the argument ‘−’ is given, cat reads from the standard input. If the standard input is a terminal, input is terminated by an EOF signal, usually CTRL-D.
OPTIONS
−b Number the lines, as −n, but omit the line numbers from blank lines.
−e Display non-printing characters, as −v, and in addition display a $ character at the end of each line.
−n Precede each line output with its line number.
−s Substitute a single blank line for multiple adjacent blank lines.
−t Display non-printing characters, as −v, and in addition display TAB characters as ^I (CTRL-I).
−u Unbuffered. If −u is not used, output is buffered in blocks, or line-buffered if standard output is a terminal.
−v Display non-printing characters (with the exception of TAB and NEWLINE characters) so that they are visible. Control characters print like ^X for CTRL-X; the DEL character (octal 0177) print as ‘^?’. Non-ASCII characters (with the high bit set) are displayed as M−x where M− stands for ‘meta’ and x is the character specified by the seven low order bits.
SYSTEM V OPTIONS
−e If the −v option is specified, display a $ character at the end of each line.
−s Suppress messages about files which cannot be opened.
−t If the −v option is specified, displays TAB characters as ^I (CTRL-I) and FORMFEED characters as ^L (CTRL-I).
−v Display non-printing character (with the exception of TAB, NEWLINE, and FORMFEED characters) so that they are visible.
SEE ALSO
cp(1), ex(1), more(1), pg(1V), pr(1V), tail(1)
BUGS
Beware of ‘cat a b >a’ and ‘cat a b >b’, which destroy the input files before reading them.
Sun Release 4.0 — Last change: 9 September 1987