ZCAT(1POSIX)

📦 version 2017a, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🦋 zcat — expand and concatenate data 🦋

okay bestie, welcome to the POSIX Programmer's Manual page for zcat, from the 1POSIX section 💖

PROLOG — real talk first: this manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (so pls consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details on Linux behavior), or honestly the interface may not be implemented on Linux at all. not me delivering bad news in the prologue 😭

✨ NAME ✨

zcat — expand and concatenate data 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

zcat [file...]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

The zcat utility shall write to standard output the uncompressed form of files that have been compressed using the compress utility. It is the equivalent of uncompress -c. Input files are not affected — she reads, she does not touch, she is a respectful queen 👑

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

None. literally none. zero. the void. and that's iconic of her 🫶

🍓 OPERANDS 🍓

The following operand shall be supported:

  • file — the pathname of a file previously processed by the compress utility. If file already has the .Z suffix specified, it is used as submitted. Otherwise, the .Z suffix is appended to the filename prior to processing. she will find your file either way, no cap 💫

🧚 STDIN 🧚

The standard input shall be used only if no file operands are specified, or if a file operand is '-'.

🌈 INPUT FILES 🌈

Input files shall be compressed files that are in the format produced by the compress utility.

👑 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 👑

The following environment variables shall affect the execution of zcat:

  • LANG — provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale categories.)
  • LC_ALL — if set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables. she said all. all of them. 💀
  • LC_CTYPE — determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments).
  • LC_MESSAGES — determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
  • NLSPATH — determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.

⭐ ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS ⭐

Default.

💜 STDOUT 💜

The compressed files given as input shall be written on standard output in their uncompressed form. glow up achieved ✨

🎀 STDERR 🎀

The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

🦋 OUTPUT FILES 🦋

None.

🌸 EXTENDED DESCRIPTION 🌸

None.

💅 EXIT STATUS 💅

The following exit values shall be returned:

  • 0 — successful completion. we love a clean exit 🥳
  • >0 — an error occurred. something went wrong bestie 😭

🍓 CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS 🍓

Default.

The following sections are informative. (translation: the tea is optional but still worth reading 💅)

🔥 APPLICATION USAGE 🔥

None.

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

None.

🧚 RATIONALE 🧚

None.

🌈 FUTURE DIRECTIONS 🌈

None.

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

  • compress
  • uncompress
  • The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Chapter 8, Environment Variables

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

and that's the whole page bestie, mwah 💋 this one's brought to you by IEEE/The Open Group, dated 2017, filed under ZCAT(1POSIX). periodt. 🎀🦋💅

📦 where this page comes from