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.