Displaying files: cat

The cat command is useful for displaying short files of a few lines. To display longer files use an editor or a pager such as more.

To display the contents of a file use the command:

cat filename

Examples

To display a file: 

   cat README

This displays the contents of the file README. If the file contains more lines than can be displayed on the screen at once it will scroll by; use a pager instead.

To display line numbers: 

   cat -b myprog.c

This displays the contents of myprog.c and numbers the lines. Blank lines are not numbered.