DESCRIPTION
The cat utility reads files sequentially, writing them to the standard output. The file operands are
processed in command-line order. If file is a single dash (‘-’) or absent, cat reads from the standard
input. If file is a UNIX domain socket, cat connects to it and then reads it until EOF. This complements
the UNIX domain binding capability available in inetd(8).
The options are as follows:
-b Number the non-blank output lines, starting at 1.
-e Display non-printing characters (see the -v option), and display a dollar sign (‘$’) at the end of
each line.
-l Set an exclusive advisory lock on the standard output file descriptor. This lock is set using
fcntl(2) with the F_SETLKW command. If the output file is already locked, cat will block until the
lock is acquired.
-n Number the output lines, starting at 1.
-s Squeeze multiple adjacent empty lines, causing the output to be single spaced.
-t Display non-printing characters (see the -v option), and display tab characters as ‘^I’.
-u Disable output buffering.
-v Display non-printing characters so they are visible. Control characters print as ‘^X’ for control-
X; the delete character (octal 0177) prints as ‘^?’. Non-ASCII characters (with the high bit set)
are printed as ‘M-’ (for meta) followed by the character for the low 7 bits.