cat(1)                                                               cat(1)




 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      cat - concatenate, copy, and print files

 SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]
      cat [-benrstuv] file ...

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      cat reads each file in sequence and writes it on the standard output.
      Thus:

           cat file

      prints file on the default standard output device;

           cat file1 file2 > file3

      concatenates file1 and file2, and places the result in file3.

      If - is appears as a file argument, cat uses standard input.  To
      combine standard input and other files, use a combination of - and
      file arguments.

    Options    [Toc]    [Back]
      cat recognizes the following options:

           -b   Omit line numbers from blank lines when -n option is
                specified. If this option is specified, the -n option is
                automatically selected.

           -e   Print a $ character at the end of each line (prior to the
                new-line).  If this option is specified, the -v option is
                automatically selected.

           -n   Display output lines preceded by line numbers, numbered
                sequentially from 1.

           -r   Replace multiple consecutive empty lines with one empty
                line, so that there is never more than one empty line
                between lines containing characters.

           -s   Silent option.  cat suppresses error messages about nonexistent
 files, identical input and output, and write
                errors.  Normally, input and output files cannot have
                identical names unless the file is a special file.

           -t   Print each tab character as ^I and form feed character as
                ^L.  If this option is specified, the -v option is
                automatically selected.

           -u   Do not buffer output (handle character-by-character).
                Normally, output is buffered.



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 cat(1)                                                               cat(1)




           -v   Cause non-printing characters (with the exception of tabs,
                new-lines and form-feeds) to be printed visibly.  Control
                characters are printed using the form ^X (Ctrl-X), and the
                DEL character (octal 0177) is printed as ^? (see ascii(5)).
                Single-byte control characters whose most significant bit is
                set, are printed using the form M-^x, where x is the
                character specified by the seven low order bits.  All other
                non-printing characters are printed as M-x, where x is the
                character specified by the seven low order bits.  This
                option is influenced by the LC_CTYPE environment variable
                and its corresponding code set.

 EXTERNAL INFLUENCES    [Toc]    [Back]
    Environment Variables
      LANG provides a default value for the internationalization variables
      that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the default value of
      "C" (see lang(5)) is used. If any of the internationalization
      variables contains an invalid setting, cat will behave as if all
      internationalization variables are set to "C".  See environ(5).

      LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of all
      the other internationalization variables.

      LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of text as single and/or
      multi-byte characters, the classification of characters as printable,
      and the characters matched by character class expressions in regular
      expressions.

      LC_MESSAGES determines the locale that should be used to affect the
      format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error
      and informative messages written to standard output.

      NLSPATH determines the location of message catalogues for the
      processing of LC_MESSAGES.

    International Code Set Support    [Toc]    [Back]
      Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.

 RETURN VALUE    [Toc]    [Back]
      Exit values are:

          0      Successful completion.
         >0      Error condition occurred.

 EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]
      To create a zero-length file, use any of the following:

           cat /dev/null > file
           cp /dev/null file
           touch file




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 cat(1)                                                               cat(1)




      The following prints ^I for all the occurrences of tab character in
      file1

           cat -t file1

      To suppress error messages about files that do not exist, use:

           cat -s file1 file2 file3 > file

      If file2 does not exist, the above command concatenates file1 and
      file3 without reporting the error on file2.  The result is the same if
      -s option is not used, except that cat displays the error message.

      To view non-printable characters in file2, use:

           cat -v file2

 WARNINGS    [Toc]    [Back]
      Command formats such as

           cat file1 file2 > file1

      overwrites the data in file1 before the concatenation begins, thus
      destroying the file.  Therefore, be careful when using shell special
      characters.

 SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]
      cp(1), more(1), pg(1), pr(1), rmnl(1), ssp(1).

 STANDARDS CONFORMANCE    [Toc]    [Back]
      cat: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3, XPG4, POSIX.2


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