cat - Man Page

• Print the contents of a file to stdout: cat path/to/file
• Concatenate several files into an output file: cat path/to/file1 path/to/file2 ... > path/to/output_file
• Append several files to an output file: cat path/to/file1 path/to/file2 ... >> path/to/output_file
• Copy the contents of a file into an output file without buffering: cat -u /dev/tty12 > /dev/tty13
• Write stdin to a file: cat - > path/to/file

tldr.sh

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

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

cat f - g

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

cat

Copy standard input to standard output.

Written by Torbjorn Granlund and Richard M. Stallman.

Report bugs to: <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.
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/>

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

tac(1)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/cat>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) cat invocation'