Introduction
The Linux command ‘cat’ is a powerful tool used to view, create, and concatenate files. It is one of the most commonly used commands in Linux and is used to display the contents of a file or multiple files. It can also be used to create new files, append data to existing files, and combine multiple files into one. The ‘cat’ command is a versatile tool that can be used for a variety of tasks.
Examples
The cat command is used to concatenate files and print on the standard output. It can also be used to create a new file, view the contents of a file, and combine multiple files into a single file.
Syntax:
cat [options] [file_name]
Example:
cat file1.txt
This command will display the contents of the file1.txt file on the terminal.
Using the Cat Command in Linux
The cat command is one of the most commonly used commands in Linux. It is used to display the contents of a file or to create a new file. It can also be used to concatenate multiple files into one file.
The basic syntax for the cat command is:
cat [options] [file_name]
The most commonly used options are:
- -n : This option will number all the output lines.
- -b : This option will number only the non-blank output lines.
- -s : This option will squeeze multiple blank lines into one.
- -v : This option will display non-printing characters.
The cat command can also be used to create a new file. To do this, you need to use the -e option. For example, to create a new file called myfile.txt with the contents Hello World!, you would use the following command:
cat -e > myfile.txt Hello World!^M$
The ^M character is the end of line character. When you press enter, this character is added to the end of the line.
The cat command can also be used to concatenate multiple files into one file. To do this, you need to specify the files you want to concatenate as arguments to the command. For example, to concatenate the files file1.txt and file2.txt into a new file called myfile.txt, you would use the following command:
cat file1.txt file2.txt > myfile.txt
The cat command is a powerful and versatile command that can be used for a variety of tasks. It is an essential tool for any Linux user.
