Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide

File Viewing

cat	View files in their entirety.
less	View text files one page at a time.
head	View the first lines of a text file.
tail	View the last lines of a text file.
nl	View text files with their lines numbered.
strings	Display text that’s embedded in a binary file.
od	View data in octal (or other formats).
xxd	View data in hexadecimal.

On a Mac, you’ll encounter various types of files to view: plain text, binary data, and more. Here we’ll explain how to view them.