cat(1)

cat1

Concatenate files and print on the standard output

Usage

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

Overview

Concatenate FILE(s) to standard output.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

-A, --show-all

equivalent to -vET

-b, --number-nonblank

number nonempty output lines, overrides -n

-e

equivalent to -vE

-E, --show-ends

display $ or ^M$ at end of each line

-n, --number

number all output lines

-s, --squeeze-blank

suppress repeated empty output lines

-t

equivalent to -vT

-T, --show-tabs

display TAB characters as ^I

-u

(ignored)

-v, --show-nonprinting

use ^ and M- notation, except for LFD and TAB

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

Examples

cat f - g

Output f's contents, then standard input, then g's contents.

cat

Copy standard input to standard output.

Releases

19 releases since Debian 1.1 (Buzz); the text changed 15 times.

  1. 1.1
  2. 1.2–2.1
  3. 2.2
  4. 3.0
  5. 3.1
  6. 4.0
  7. 5.0
  8. 6.0
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. Arch

--reversible until Debian 3.1 (Sarge); -r until Debian 3.1 (Sarge).

Author

Written by Torbjorn Granlund and Richard M. Stallman.

Reporting bugs

Report bugs to: <[email protected]>.
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

From coreutils 9.12-2 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.