Linux Basic Commands

10. cat

cat Command in Linux

cat stands for "concatenate", but it’s commonly used to view the contents of a file.

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🔹 Basic Syntax:

cat [options] filename

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🔹 Most Common Uses & Examples:

✅ 1. View contents of a file

cat file.txt

👉 Displays the content of file.txt in the terminal.

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✅ 2. Create a new file using cat

cat > newfile.txt

Then type your content:

Hello, this is a new file.

Press Ctrl + D to save and exit.

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✅ 3. Append content to an existing file

cat >> file.txt

Type new content and press Ctrl + D.

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✅ 4. Combine multiple files into one

cat file1.txt file2.txt > combined.txt

👉 Combines file1.txt and file2.txt into combined.txt.

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✅ 5. Show line numbers

cat -n file.txt

👉 Displays the file with line numbers:

     1  This is line 1
     2  This is line 2

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🔹 Summary Table:

Task	Command
View file	cat file.txt
Create file	cat > file.txt
Append file	cat >> file.txt
Combine files	cat file1 file2 > newfile
Line numbers	cat -n file.txt

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