xref: /csrg-svn/bin/cat/cat.1 (revision 69175)
163663Sbostic.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993
263663Sbostic.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
319079Smckusick.\"
450178Sbostic.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
550178Sbostic.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
650178Sbostic.\"
742525Sbostic.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
819079Smckusick.\"
9*69175Smckusick.\"     @(#)cat.1	8.3 (Berkeley) 05/02/95
1037129Sbostic.\"
1143082Scael.Dd
1243082Scael.Dt CAT 1
1343082Scael.Os BSD 3
1443082Scael.Sh NAME
1543082Scael.Nm cat
1643082Scael.Nd concatenate and print files
1743082Scael.Sh SYNOPSIS
1843082Scael.Nm cat
1943082Scael.Op Fl benstuv
2043082Scael.Op Fl
2147400Scael.Op Ar
2243082Scael.Sh DESCRIPTION
2337129SbosticThe
2443082Scael.Nm cat
2537129Sbosticutility reads files sequentially, writing them to the standard output.
2619080SmckusickThe
2743082Scael.Ar file
2837129Sbosticoperands are processed in command line order.
2963662SmckusickA single dash represents the standard input.
3043082Scael.Pp
3137180SbosticThe options are as follows:
3247400Scael.Bl -tag -width Ds
3347400Scael.It Fl b
3437180SbosticImplies the
3543082Scael.Fl n
3637180Sbosticoption but doesn't number blank lines.
3747400Scael.It Fl e
3837180SbosticImplies the
3943082Scael.Fl v
4047400Scaeloption, and displays a dollar sign
4147400Scael.Pq Ql \&$
4247400Scaelat the end of each line
4337180Sbosticas well.
4447400Scael.It Fl n
4567883SmckusickNumber the output lines, starting at 1.
4647400Scael.It Fl s
4737180SbosticSqueeze multiple adjacent empty lines, causing the output to be
4837180Sbosticsingle spaced.
4947400Scael.It Fl t
5037180SbosticImplies the
5143082Scael.Fl v
5247400Scaeloption, and displays tab characters as
5367883Smckusick.Ql ^I
5447400Scaelas well.
5547400Scael.It Fl u
5619080SmckusickThe
5744952Scael.Fl u
5844952Scaeloption guarantees that the output is unbuffered.
5947400Scael.It Fl v
6037180SbosticDisplays non-printing characters so they are visible.
6163662SmckusickControl characters print as
6247400Scael.Ql ^X
6347400Scaelfor control-X; the delete
6447400Scaelcharacter (octal 0177) prints as
6547400Scael.Ql ^?
6637180SbosticNon-ascii characters (with the high bit set) are printed as
6747400Scael.Ql M-
6847400Scael(for meta) followed by the character for the low 7 bits.
6947400Scael.El
7043082Scael.Pp
7150063SbosticThe
7250063Sbostic.Nm cat
7350063Sbosticutility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
7450063Sbostic.Sh BUGS
7537129SbosticBecause of the shell language mechanism used to perform output
7647400Scaelredirection, the command
7747400Scael.Dq Li cat file1 file 2 > file1
7850063Sbosticwill cause the original data in file1 to be destroyed!
7943082Scael.Sh SEE ALSO
8043082Scael.Xr head 1 ,
8143082Scael.Xr more 1 ,
8243082Scael.Xr pr 1 ,
83*69175Smckusick.Xr tail 1 ,
84*69175Smckusick.Xr vis 1
8547400Scael.Rs
8647400Scael.%A Rob Pike
8747400Scael.%T "UNIX Style, or cat -v Considered Harmful"
8847400Scael.%J "USENIX Summer Conference Proceedings"
8947400Scael.%D 1983
9047400Scael.Re
9143082Scael.Sh HISTORY
9247400ScaelA
9343082Scael.Nm
9447400Scaelcommand appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
95