cat

cat: concatenate files and print them.

Synopsis

cat [file…]

Description

cat writes the contents of each file to standard output, one after another. With no file, or where a file is -, it reads standard input.

Each read takes what the file has now and writes it at once, so a file that never ends (a sensor’s, /dev/motion0: an event a line) shows each piece as it comes.

A file that cannot be opened or read is reported on standard error, and cat goes on with the next one.

Options

None.

Exit status

0 if every file was read; 1 if any could not be opened or read.

Examples

cat notes.txt
cat head.txt - tail.txt > all.txt
cat /dev/motion0

Notes

GNU cat’s options (-n, -A and the others) are not supported.

See also

head(1), tail(1), less(1)