Using the bat Command: A Powerful, Highlighted and Paginated Replacement for cat

Programmers are familiar with the cat command, which simply prints the contents of a text file but lacks syntax highlighting and paging for long files.

The bat command addresses these shortcomings by adding syntax‑highlighted output, automatic paging via less, Git integration to show changes, and the ability to display non‑printable characters.

Key features:

Syntax highlighting : highlights keywords according to the file’s programming or markup language.

Automatic paging : pipes long output to less for convenient scrolling.

Git integration : shows modifications on the left side when viewing files tracked by Git.

Show non‑printable characters : with -A or --show-all, invisible characters become visible.

Installation

On most Linux distributions the command is available in the official repositories. For Ubuntu, run: $ sudo apt-get install bat Because the package name conflicts with the existing cat binary, the executable is called batcat. You can create a convenient alias: alias "bat=batcat" Basic usage

Running bat on a file produces output similar to cat but adds line numbers, file name, and a table‑style border, making the display richer.

You can limit the displayed lines with --line-range and combine bat with other commands via pipes.

Syntax highlighting bat supports most programming and markup languages. To see the full list, use:

$ bat --list-languages

Git integration

When a file is part of a Git repository, bat can fetch the diff and display the changed sections in a side pane.

Displaying non‑printable characters

Use -A or --show-all to reveal characters that cat would hide.

Automatic paging

If the output exceeds one screen, bat automatically sends it to less, allowing you to scroll just like with less. To disable paging, add --paging=never.

Theme customization bat ships with many color themes. List them with:

$ bat --list-themes

To use a specific theme temporarily, run bat --theme=GitHub filename. For a permanent setting, add export BAT_THEME="GitHub" to your shell startup script.

Conclusion

The bat command is a robust, feature‑rich replacement for cat, offering syntax highlighting, automatic paging, Git diff integration, and customizable themes, making it highly useful for anyone who frequently reads text files in the terminal.