Return to Question

It seems that the purpose of cat is to concatenate several files. However, many people still use cat instead of less (or a similar program like more) to display a file. See, for example, the GNU m4 manual and the answer "How can I display the contents of a text file on the command line?".

###Man page: less -F or --quit-if-one-screen

     Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.

-X or --no-init

     Disables sending the termcap initialization and deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clearing the screen.

Nowadays, is it a good practice to use cat to display or view a file? Why use cat to view a file?

This makes me think to Useless Use Of Cat.

Note: This question is not about the differences between less and more. Moreover, it concerns the visualization of a file created earlier.

_{According to the answers and comments, it seems that cat is used beyond its use because it is easier to use than a pager (e.g. more, less...). Some people think this is an irrelevant fact (or useless) but experience shows that various subtleties pertaining to the shell may have practical consequences: use a shell loop to process a text file, use unquoted variables...}

_{Negative consequences vary in intensity. For example, cat foo bar | less is valid because the user concatenates two files but cat foo | less is not valid. In the same spirit, cat seems to be required in "a pipeline" although it seems that a pager like less works in a pipeline too (note: less is not suited in all cases concerning displaying, e.g. Reading a named pipe: tail or cat?).}

_{See also: How to cat a file with "or" options}

It seems that the purpose of cat is to concatenate several files. However, many people still use cat instead of less (or a similar program like more) to display a file. See, for example, the GNU m4 manual and the answer "How can I display the contents of a text file on the command line?".

Man page: less

-F or --quit-if-one-screen

     Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.

-X or --no-init

     Disables sending the termcap initialization and deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clearing the screen.

Nowadays, is it a good practice to use cat to display or view a file? Why use cat to view a file?

This makes me think to Useless Use Of Cat.

Note: This question is not about the differences between less and more. Moreover, it concerns the visualization of a file created earlier.

_{According to the answers and comments, it seems that cat is used beyond its use because it is easier to use than a pager (e.g. more, less...). Some people think this is an irrelevant fact (or useless) but experience shows that various subtleties pertaining to the shell may have practical consequences: use a shell loop to process a text file, use unquoted variables...}

_{Negative consequences vary in intensity. For example, cat foo bar | less is valid because the user concatenates two files but cat foo | less is not valid. In the same spirit, cat seems to be required in "a pipeline" although it seems that a pager like less works in a pipeline too (note: less is not suited in all cases concerning displaying, e.g. Reading a named pipe: tail or cat?).}

_{See also: How to cat a file with "or" options}

It seems that the purpose of cat is to concatenate several files. However, many people still use cat instead of less (or a similar program like more) to display a file. See, for example, the GNU m4 manual.

###Man page: less -F or --quit-if-one-screen

     Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.

-X or --no-init

     Disables sending the termcap initialization and deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clearing the screen.

Nowadays, is it a good practice to use cat to display or view a file? Why use cat to view a file?

This makes me think to Useless Use Of Cat.

Note: This question is not about the differences between less and more. Moreover, it concerns the visualization of a file created earlier.

_{According to the answers and comments, it seems that cat is used beyond its use because it is easier to use than a pager (e.g. more, less...). Some people think this is an irrelevant fact (or useless) but experience shows that various subtleties pertaining to the shell may have practical consequences: use a shell loop to process a text file, use unquoted variables...}

_{Negative consequences vary in intensity. For example, cat foo bar | less is valid because the user concatenates two files but cat foo | less is not valid. In the same spirit, cat seems to be required in "a pipeline" although it seems that a pager like less works in a pipeline too (note: less is not suited in all cases concerning displaying, e.g. Reading a named pipe: tail or cat?).}

_{See also: How to cat a file with "or" options}

_{Similar question: How can I display the contents of a text file on the command line?}

It seems that the purpose of cat is to concatenate several files. However, many people still use cat instead of less (or a similar program like more) to display a file. See, for example, the GNU m4 manual and the answer "How can I display the contents of a text file on the command line?".

###Man page: less -F or --quit-if-one-screen

     Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.

-X or --no-init

     Disables sending the termcap initialization and deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clearing the screen.

Nowadays, is it a good practice to use cat to display or view a file? Why use cat to view a file?

This makes me think to Useless Use Of Cat.

Note: This question is not about the differences between less and more. Moreover, it concerns the visualization of a file created earlier.

_{According to the answers and comments, it seems that cat is used beyond its use because it is easier to use than a pager (e.g. more, less...). Some people think this is an irrelevant fact (or useless) but experience shows that various subtleties pertaining to the shell may have practical consequences: use a shell loop to process a text file, use unquoted variables...}

_{Negative consequences vary in intensity. For example, cat foo bar | less is valid because the user concatenates two files but cat foo | less is not valid. In the same spirit, cat seems to be required in "a pipeline" although it seems that a pager like less works in a pipeline too (note: less is not suited in all cases concerning displaying, e.g. Reading a named pipe: tail or cat?).}

_{See also: How to cat a file with "or" options}

It seems that the purpose of cat is to concatenate several files. However, many people still use cat instead of less (or a similar program like more) to display a file. See, for example, the GNU m4 manual.

###Man page: less -F or --quit-if-one-screen

     Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.

-X or --no-init

     Disables sending the termcap initialization and deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clearing the screen.

Nowadays, is it a good practice to use cat to display or view a file? Why use cat to view a file?

This makes me think to Useless Use Of Cat.

Note: This question is not about the differences between less and more. Moreover, it concerns the visualization of a file created earlier.

_{According to the answers and comments, it seems that cat is used beyond its use because it is easier to use than a pager (e.g. more, less...). Some people think this is an irrelevant fact (or useless) but experience shows that various subtleties pertaining to the shell may have practical consequences: use a shell loop to process a text file, use unquoted variables...}

_{Negative consequences vary in intensity. For example, cat foo bar | less is valid because the user concatenates two files but cat foo | less is not valid. In the same spirit, cat seems to be required in "a pipeline" although it seems that a pager like less works in a pipeline too (note: less is not suited in all cases concerning displaying, e.g. Reading a named pipe: tail or cat?).}

_{See also: How to cat a file with "or" options}

It seems that the purpose of cat is to concatenate several files. However, many people still use cat instead of less (or a similar program like more) to display a file. See, for example, the GNU m4 manual.

###Man page: less -F or --quit-if-one-screen

     Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.

-X or --no-init

     Disables sending the termcap initialization and deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clearing the screen.

Nowadays, is it a good practice to use cat to display or view a file? Why use cat to view a file?

This makes me think to Useless Use Of Cat.

Note: This question is not about the differences between less and more. Moreover, it concerns the visualization of a file created earlier.

_{According to the answers and comments, it seems that cat is used beyond its use because it is easier to use than a pager (e.g. more, less...). Some people think this is an irrelevant fact (or useless) but experience shows that various subtleties pertaining to the shell may have practical consequences: use a shell loop to process a text file, use unquoted variables...}

_{Negative consequences vary in intensity. For example, cat foo bar | less is valid because the user concatenates two files but cat foo | less is not valid. In the same spirit, cat seems to be required in "a pipeline" although it seems that a pager like less works in a pipeline too (note: less is not suited in all cases concerning displaying, e.g. Reading a named pipe: tail or cat?).}

_{See also: How to cat a file with "or" options}

_{Similar question: How can I display the contents of a text file on the command line?}