Linux and Unix Shell Programming

5.3. cat

cat is a very simple but versatile file display and file creator which is also handy for displaying control characters. When using cat be warned that it will not pause between page breaks; it literally displays the whole file in one go. If you need to see a file a page at a time then use ‘more’ or pipe the output from cat through to another pager, like this:

						$ cat myfile | more
					

or

						$ cat myfile | pg
					

The general format is:

cat [options] filename1...filename2... 

cat ’s most useful option is:

-v	Display control characters.

To display a file called myfile:

						$ cat myfile
					

To display three files called myfile1, myfile2 and myfile3:

						$ cat myfile1 myfile2 myfile3
					

To create a file called bigfile that contains the contents of the files ...