CAT(1)

📦 version 0.12.0, in arch rolling

🐱 CAT(1) — bestie's guide to concatenating literally everything 💅

okay so picture this: you got files, you got a terminal, and you want the files in the terminal. that's it. that's the whole vibe. cat is the OG main character of Unix commands and honestly she ate. this is from the General Commands Manual bestie, section 1, we're in the big leagues now ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

cat — Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

no cap, that's the entire job description and she's been booked and busy since forever 🫶

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

cat [OPTION]... [FILE]...

like literally that's it. options, then files. you got this 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

okay so let me translate: you hand cat a bunch of files and she just… smooshes them together and dumps the whole thing onto standard output. no thoughts, head empty, just bytes flowing through 💫

and here's the cute part: if you give her no FILE at all, or if one of the FILEs is literally just -, she reads from standard input instead. so cat with nothing after it just sits there waiting for you to type at her, which is honestly so relatable 🙈

✨ OPTIONS ✨

she has range, bestie. look at all these flags 👑

  • -A, --show-all — equivalent to -vET. the whole package deal, all three vibes at once 🎁
  • -b, --number-nonblank — number nonempty output lines, overrides -n. so only the lines that actually have something on them get a number, and she'll straight up override -n if you try both. she's the boss 💅
  • -e — equivalent to -vE. combo meal, two for one 🍓
  • -E, --show-ends — display $ at end of each line. now you can see where the lines end, which is a whole vibe when you're debugging 🌈
  • -n, --number — number all output lines. every single one. no skipping, no favorites ⭐
  • -s, --squeeze-blank — suppress repeated empty output lines. one blank line is cute, twelve is a cry for help 😭 and this flag fixes that
  • -t — equivalent to -vT. another duo, we love a bundle 🎀
  • -T, --show-tabs — display TAB characters at ^I. so those sneaky tabs show up as ^I instead of doing their invisible little thing 🧚
  • -v, --show-nonprinting — use ^ and M- notation, except for LF (\n) and TAB (\t). so the weird invisible characters finally get a face, but newlines and tabs are spared because they're innocent 🔥
  • -u — (ignored). literally nothing. she's just there. decorative. a little ghost 👻
  • -h, --help — Print help. when you're lost, she's got you 🫶
  • -V, --version — Print version. so you know exactly which queen you're dealing with 👑
  • -- — hmm wait no, that one's not in the list. ignore me. moving on. 💀
ngl bestie, -u does nothing. it's ignored. don't build your whole workflow on it, she's not listening 🙈

💜 VERSION 💜

v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0

and that's the whole page, bestie — every flag, every default, nothing skipped, nothing invented. go forth and concatenate 🦋💖

sign-off szn: this little love letter is from the General Commands Manual, dated 2026-09-17, and the version on the tin is v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0 — mwah, periodt 💅🎀
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