cat
Syntax
cat [-benstvA]
files
Options
-b
numbers nonblank lines.
-e
shows each end-of-line (as $
) and all nonprinting characters.
-n
numbers all output lines starting with number 1.
-s
replaces multiple blank lines with a single blank line.
-t
shows tabs as ^I .
-v
shows nonprinting characters.
-A
shows all characters (including nonprinting ones).
Description
Typically, cat
is used to display the contents of a file or to concatenate several files into a single file. For example, cat file1 file2 file3
> all
combines three files into a single file named all
.