[unix-history] / usr / src / bin / cat / cat.1

.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)cat.1	6.16 (Berkeley) 6/27/91
.\"
.Dd June 27, 1991
.Dt CAT 1
.Os BSD 3
.Sh NAME
.Nm cat
.Nd concatenate and print files
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm cat
.Op Fl benstuv
.Op Fl
.Op Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm cat
utility reads files sequentially, writing them to the standard output.
The
.Ar file
operands are processed in command line order.
A single dash represents standard input.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl b
Implies the
.Fl n
option but doesn't number blank lines.
.It Fl e
Implies the
.Fl v
option, and displays a dollar sign
.Pq Ql \&$
at the end of each line
as well.
.It Fl n
Number the
.Ar output
lines, starting at 1.
.It Fl s
Squeeze multiple adjacent empty lines, causing the output to be
single spaced.
.It Fl t
Implies the
.Fl v
option, and displays tab characters as
.Pq Ql ^I
as well.
.It Fl u
The
.Fl u
option guarantees that the output is unbuffered.
.It Fl v
Displays non-printing characters so they are visible.
Control characters print line
.Ql ^X
for control-X; the delete
character (octal 0177) prints as
.Ql ^?
Non-ascii characters (with the high bit set) are printed as
.Ql M-
(for meta) followed by the character for the low 7 bits.
.El
.Pp
The
.Nm cat
utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
.Sh BUGS
Because of the shell language mechanism used to perform output
redirection, the command
.Dq Li cat file1 file 2 > file1
will cause the original data in file1 to be destroyed!
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr head 1 ,
.Xr more 1 ,
.Xr pr 1 ,
.Xr tail 1
.Rs
.%A Rob Pike
.%T "UNIX Style, or cat -v Considered Harmful"
.%J "USENIX Summer Conference Proceedings"
.%D 1983
.Re
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm
command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
Commit	Line	Data
9b42703a WJ	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
	2	.\" All rights reserved.
	3	.\"
	4	.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
	5	.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
	6	.\"
	7	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
	8	.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
	9	.\" are met:
	10	.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
	11	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
	12	.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
	13	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
	14	.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
	15	.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
	16	.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
	17	.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
	18	.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
	19	.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
	20	.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
	21	.\" without specific prior written permission.
	22	.\"
	23	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
	24	.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
	25	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
	26	.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
	27	.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
	28	.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
	29	.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
	30	.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
	31	.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
	32	.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
	33	.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
	34	.\"
	35	.\" @(#)cat.1 6.16 (Berkeley) 6/27/91
	36	.\"
	37	.Dd June 27, 1991
	38	.Dt CAT 1
	39	.Os BSD 3
	40	.Sh NAME
	41	.Nm cat
	42	.Nd concatenate and print files
	43	.Sh SYNOPSIS
	44	.Nm cat
	45	.Op Fl benstuv
	46	.Op Fl
	47	.Op Ar
	48	.Sh DESCRIPTION
	49	The
	50	.Nm cat
	51	utility reads files sequentially, writing them to the standard output.
	52	The
	53	.Ar file
	54	operands are processed in command line order.
	55	A single dash represents standard input.
	56	.Pp
	57	The options are as follows:
	58	.Bl -tag -width Ds
	59	.It Fl b
	60	Implies the
	61	.Fl n
	62	option but doesn't number blank lines.
	63	.It Fl e
	64	Implies the
65	.Fl v
66	option, and displays a dollar sign
67	.Pq Ql \&$
68	at the end of each line
69	as well.
70	.It Fl n
71	Number the
72	.Ar output
73	lines, starting at 1.
74	.It Fl s
75	Squeeze multiple adjacent empty lines, causing the output to be
76	single spaced.
77	.It Fl t
78	Implies the
79	.Fl v
80	option, and displays tab characters as
81	.Pq Ql ^I
82	as well.
83	.It Fl u
84	The
85	.Fl u
86	option guarantees that the output is unbuffered.
87	.It Fl v
88	Displays non-printing characters so they are visible.
89	Control characters print line
90	.Ql ^X
91	for control-X; the delete
92	character (octal 0177) prints as
93	.Ql ^?
94	Non-ascii characters (with the high bit set) are printed as
95	.Ql M-
96	(for meta) followed by the character for the low 7 bits.
97	.El
98	.Pp
99	The
100	.Nm cat
101	utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
102	.Sh BUGS
103	Because of the shell language mechanism used to perform output
104	redirection, the command
105	.Dq Li cat file1 file 2 > file1
106	will cause the original data in file1 to be destroyed!
107	.Sh SEE ALSO
108	.Xr head 1 ,
109	.Xr more 1 ,
110	.Xr pr 1 ,
111	.Xr tail 1
112	.Rs
113	.%A Rob Pike
114	.%T "UNIX Style, or cat -v Considered Harmful"
115	.%J "USENIX Summer Conference Proceedings"
116	.%D 1983
117	.Re
118	.Sh HISTORY
119	A
120	.Nm
121	command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.