Programming Tutorials

Display the contents of a file (concatenate and print)

Syntax
       cat [-benstuv] [-] [file ...]

Options
     -b      Number the non-blank output lines, starting at 1.

     -n      Number the output lines, starting at 1.

     -s      Squeeze multiple adjacent empty lines, causing the output to be
             single spaced.

     -u      Disable output buffering.

     -v      Displays non-printing characters so they are visible. 
             Control characters print as `^X' for control-X;
             The delete character (octal 0177) prints as `^?' 
             Non-ascii characters (with the high bit set) are printed as `M-' (for meta)
             followed by the character for the low 7 bits.

     -e      Display non-printing characters and display a dollar sign ($) at the
             end of each line.

     -t      Display non-printing characters and display tab characters as ^I at the
             end of each line.

     -       Read from the standard input.

cat exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.