BSDCAT(1)

💖 BSDCAT(1) 💖

okay bestie, so there's this lil icon called bsdcat and she lives in the General Commands Manual section of your system, and honestly? she's giving unbothered file-expanding queen. ✨

✨ NAME ✨

bsdcat — expand files to standard output 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bsdcat [options] [files]

like. that's it. that's the whole vibe. 💅

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so bsdcat expands files to standard output. that's her whole thing. that's her main character moment. no cap. 🫶

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

ngl the "options" section is lowkey doing the most explaining and the least option-ing, but we respect her:

• bsdcat typically takes a filename as an argument, OR reads standard input when you use it in a pipe. 🍓
• in both of those cases, the decompressed data is written to standard output. periodt. ✨

not me noticing there are literally no flags listed here bestie, we're just vibing with filenames and pipes 😭

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

💖 to decompress a file:

bsdcat example.txt.gz > example.txt

🦋 to decompress standard input in a pipe:

cat example.txt.gz | bsdcat > example.txt

both examples achieve the same results — a decompressed file, achieved by redirecting output. iconic behavior, fr fr. 👑

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• bzcat(1)
• uncompress(1)
• xzcat(1)
• zcat(1)
• libarchive-formats(5)

and that's the whole page bestie!! this beauty is from Debian, dated March 1, 2014 — a certified vintage classic in the BSDCAT(1) lineup 💅✨ go decompress something, you deserve it 🫶🎀