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IT Support & Hardware · Foundational

cat Command

A Linux/macOS command that displays or concatenates file contents.

Definition

cat file prints the file to the terminal, and cat a b > c combines files. For long files, less or tail are better. It is commonly used to inspect configuration files.

Example

cat /etc/os-release shows the distribution and version.

Exam tip

cat /etc/os-release identifies the Linux distribution.

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