[unix-history] / usr / man / man1 / cat.1

.TH CAT 1 "18 January 1983"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
cat \- catenate and print
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B cat
[
.B \-u
] [
.B \-n
] [
.B \-s
] [
.B \-v
]
file ...
.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Cat
reads each
.I file
in sequence and displays it on the standard output.  Thus
.PP
.ti+15n
cat file
.PP
displays the file on the standard output, and
.PP
.ti+15n
cat file1 file2 >file3
.PP
concatenates the first two files and places the result on the third.
.PP
If no input file is given, or if the argument `\-' is encountered,
.I cat
reads from the standard input file.
Output is buffered in 1024-byte blocks unless the standard
output is a terminal, in which case it is line buffered.  The
.B \-u
option makes the output completely unbuffered.
.PP
The
.B \-n
option displays the output lines preceded by lines numbers, numbered
sequentially from 1.  Specifying the 
.B \-b
option with the
.B \-n
option omits the line numbers from blank lines.
.PP
The
.B \-s
option crushes out multiple adjacent empty lines so that the
output is displayed single spaced.
.PP
The
.B \-v
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
.B \-e
option may be given with the
.B \-v
option, which displays a `$' character at the end of each line.
Specifying the 
.B \-t
option with the
.B \-v
option displays tab characters as ^I.
.PP
.SH "SEE ALSO"
cp(1), ex(1), more(1), pr(1), tail(1)
.SH BUGS
Beware of `cat a b >a' and `cat a b >b', which destroy
the input files before reading them.
Commit	Line	Data
55e6eb53 C	1	.TH CAT 1 "18 January 1983"
	2	.UC 4
	3	.SH NAME
	4	cat \- catenate and print
	5	.SH SYNOPSIS
	6	.B cat
	7	[
	8	.B \-u
	9	] [
	10	.B \-n
	11	] [
	12	.B \-s
	13	] [
	14	.B \-v
	15	]
	16	file ...
	17	.br
	18	.SH DESCRIPTION
	19	.I Cat
	20	reads each
	21	.I file
	22	in sequence and displays it on the standard output. Thus
	23	.PP
	24	.ti+15n
	25	cat file
	26	.PP
	27	displays the file on the standard output, and
	28	.PP
	29	.ti+15n
	30	cat file1 file2 >file3
	31	.PP
	32	concatenates the first two files and places the result on the third.
	33	.PP
	34	If no input file is given, or if the argument `\-' is encountered,
	35	.I cat
	36	reads from the standard input file.
	37	Output is buffered in 1024-byte blocks unless the standard
	38	output is a terminal, in which case it is line buffered. The
	39	.B \-u
	40	option makes the output completely unbuffered.
	41	.PP
	42	The
	43	.B \-n
	44	option displays the output lines preceded by lines numbers, numbered
	45	sequentially from 1. Specifying the
	46	.B \-b
	47	option with the
	48	.B \-n
	49	option omits the line numbers from blank lines.
	50	.PP
	51	The
	52	.B \-s
	53	option crushes out multiple adjacent empty lines so that the
	54	output is displayed single spaced.
	55	.PP
	56	The
	57	.B \-v
	58	option displays non-printing characters so that they are visible.
	59	Control characters print like ^X for control-x; the delete character
	60	(octal 0177) prints as ^?.
	61	Non-ascii characters (with the high bit set) are printed as M-
	62	(for meta) followed by the character of the low 7 bits. A
	63	.B \-e
	64	option may be given with the
65	.B \-v
66	option, which displays a `$' character at the end of each line.
67	Specifying the
68	.B \-t
69	option with the
70	.B \-v
71	option displays tab characters as ^I.
72	.PP
73	.SH "SEE ALSO"
74	cp(1), ex(1), more(1), pr(1), tail(1)
75	.SH BUGS
76	Beware of `cat a b >a' and `cat a b >b', which destroy
77	the input files before reading them.