CAT(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual CAT(1) NNAAMMEE cat - catenate and print SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS ccaatt [ --bbeennssttuuvv ] file ... DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN _C_a_t reads each _f_i_l_e in sequence and displays it on the stan- dard output. Thus cat file displays the file on the standard output, and cat file1 file2 >file3 concatenates the first two files and places the result on the third. If no input file is given, or if the argument `-' is encoun- tered, _c_a_t reads from the standard input file. Output is buffered in the block size recommended by _s_t_a_t(2) unless the standard output is a terminal, when it is line buffered. The --uu option makes the output completely unbuffered. The --nn option displays the output lines preceded by lines numbers, numbered sequentially from 1. Specifying the --bb option with the --nn option omits the line numbers from blank lines. The --ss option crushes out multiple adjacent empty lines so that the output is displayed single spaced. The --vv option displays non-printing characters so that they are visible. Control characters print like ^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 of the low 7 bits. A --ee option may be given with the --vv option, which displays a `$' character at the end of each line. Specifying the --tt option with the --vv option displays tab characters as ^I. SSEEEE AALLSSOO cp(1), ex(1), more(1), pr(1), tail(1) BBUUGGSS Beware of `cat a b >a' and `cat a b >b', which destroy the input files before reading them. Printed 7/9/88 September 29, 1987 1