LINUX COMMAND ATLAS · COMMAND GUIDE

Linux cat command

Print file contents to the terminal or join multiple files together.

GNU Coreutils

Syntax

Command form

cat [OPTION]... [FILE]...

6 options

Option	What it does
`-n, --number`	Number all output lines.
`-b, --number-nonblank`	Number nonblank output lines.
`-s, --squeeze-blank`	Suppress repeated empty output lines.
`-A, --show-all`	Show nonprinting characters, equivalent to -vET.
`-E, --show-ends`	Display $ at the end of each line.
`-T, --show-tabs`	Display tab characters as ^I.

3 examples

Print file contents to the terminal or join multiple files together.

cat ./config.ini

Write the contents of a text file to standard output.

cat README.md

Display a configuration file with line numbers.

cat -n config.conf

cat is best for short files or pipelines; use less to inspect large files interactively.