Concatenate (cat) is one of the most frequently used Linux command-line utilities. It is most commonly used to view the contents of a single file or concatenate the contents of multiple files that are not very long. It does not provide scroll-back functionality.
The following screenshot demonstrates utilization of cat command with single file:
The following screenshot demonstrates utilization of the cat command with multiple files:
We can perform multiple tasks using the cat command, as listed in the following table:
|
Command |
Description |
|
cat file1 file2 |
Concatenate file1 and file2 and display the output. The entire contents of file1 is followed by the contents of file2 |
|
cat file1 file2 > file3 |
Combine the contents of file1 and file2 and save the output into a new file, file3 |
|
cat demo1 >> demo2 |
Append the contents of the demo1 file to the end of the existing file, demo2 |
|
cat > demo |
Any subsequent lines typed in the Terminal will go into the demo file, until Ctrl + D is pressed |
|
cat >> demo |
Any subsequent lines typed are appended to the demo file, until Ctrl + D is pressed |