Korn Shell Programming by Example

cat

Official Description

Concatenates or displays files.

Syntax

cat [-benstvA] file... | -

Options

-A shows all.

-b numbers nonblank output lines.

-e shows $ at the end of lines.

-n numbers all output lines.

-s means squeeze-blank; never more than one single blank line.

-t shows tabs as ^I.

-v shows characters that typically do not print.

With no file, or when file is -, it reads standard input.

Oddities

Used to create small files (cat > xx).

Example

 $ cat -n buzz # Numbers the output lines 1 #! /bin/ksh 2 integer x=17 3 while : 4 do 5 x=17 6 done $ $ cat > small # Create small file junk more junk # Ctrl+D to end the input (at beginning of next line) $ $ cat small junk more junk $ $ cat -e small # Indicate line ends with $ junk$ more junk$ ...