NAME

cat − concatenate and print files

SYNOPSIS

cat [ −u ] [ −s ] [ −v [−t] [−e] ] file ...

DESCRIPTION

cat reads each file in sequence and writes it on the standard output.  Thus:

cat file

prints the file, 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. 

The following options apply to cat. 

−u The output is not buffered.  (The default is buffered output.) 

−s cat is silent about non-existent files. 

−v Causes non-printing characters (with the exception of tabs, new-lines and form-feeds) to be printed visibly.  Control characters are printed ^X (control-x); the DEL character (octal 0177) is printed ^?.  Non-ASCII characters (with the high bit set) are printed as M-x, where x is the character specified by the seven low order bits. 

When used with the −v option, the following options may be used. 

−t Causes tabs to be printed as ^I’s. 

−e Causes a $ character to be printed at the end of each line (prior to the new-line). 

The −t and −e options are ignored if the −v option is not specified. 

WARNING

Command formats such as

cat file1 file2 >file1

will cause the original data in file1 to be lost; therefore, take care when using shell special characters. 

SEE ALSO

cp(1), pg(1), pr(1), and BSD version cat(1B). 

September 02, 1992