NAME

cat − catenate and print

SYNOPSIS

cat [ −u ] file ... 

DESCRIPTION

Cat reads each file in sequence and writes it on the standard output.  Thus

cat file

prints the file, and

cat file1 file2 >file3

concatenates the first two files and places the result on the third. 

If no input file is given, or if the argument ‘−’ is encountered, cat reads from the standard input file.  Output is buffered in 1024-byte blocks unless the standard output is a terminal or the −u option is specified. 

SEE ALSO

pr(1), cp(1)

BUGS

Beware of ‘cat a b >a’ and ‘cat a b >b’, which destroy the input files before reading them. 

7th Edition