Commands · Command
CommandLinuxmacOS
cat
cat [options] file...Prints the contents of one or more files to the terminal; also used to quickly concatenate files together.
// FLAGS
-nnumber each output line-Ashow non-printing characters like tabs and line endings// EXAMPLE
cat /etc/os-release — dumps the file straight to the terminal, a quick way to check OS version info.
// GOTCHA
Running cat on a large binary file can flood the terminal with garbage output (and occasionally scramble the terminal's display settings) — it's meant for text files.
// RELATED COMMANDS