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cat - Concatenates or displays files
cat [-benrstuv] file...|-
The
cat
command reads each specified file in sequence
and writes it to standard output.
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:
cat: XPG4, XPG4-UNIX
Refer to the
standards(5)
reference page for more information
about industry standards and associated tags.
[Compaq] Omits line numbers from blank lines when
-n
is specified. If you specify the
-b
option, the
-n
option is automatically invoked with it.
[Compaq] Same as the
-v
option with a
$
(dollar sign) character displayed at the end of each line.
[Compaq] Displays output lines preceded by line numbers,
numbered sequentially from 1.
[Compaq] Replaces multiple consecutive empty lines with one
empty line, so that there is never more than one empty line between lines
containing characters.
[Compaq] Does not display a message if
cat
cannot find an input file. (Silent option.)
[Compaq] Same as the
-v
option, with the
tab character printed as
<Ctrl-i>
(^I).
Does not buffer output. Writes bytes from the input file to
standard output without delay as each is read.
[Compaq] Displays nonprinting characters so that they are
visible.
The name of the file to be displayed.
[Compaq] The
cat
command is frequently used with
>
(redirection
symbol) to concatenate the specified files and write them to the specified
destination. (See
CAUTIONS.) The
cat
command is also used with
>>
to append a file
to another file.
Do not redirect output to one of the input files using the
>
(redirection symbol). If you do this, you lose the original data
in the input file because the shell truncates it before
cat
can read it. (See also the
sh
command.)
The following exit values are returned:
Successful completion.
An error occurred.
To display the file notes, enter: cat notes
The following environment variables affect the execution of
cat:
Provides a default value for the internationalization variables
that are unset or null. If
LANG
is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used.
If any of the internationalization variables contain an invalid setting, the
utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined.
If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of
all the other internationalization variables.
Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences
of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to
multibyte characters in arguments).
Determines the locale for the format and contents of diagnostic
messages written to standard error.
Determines the location of message catalogues for the processing
of
LC_MESSAGES.
Commands: more(1), ksh(1), pack(1), pg(1), pr(1), Bourne shell sh(1b), POSIX shell sh(1p)
Standards: standards(5)