Ubuntu Manpage: batcat - a cat(1) clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.

NAME

       batcat - a cat(1) clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.

USAGE

       batcat [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

       batcat cache [CACHE-OPTIONS] [--build|--clear]

DESCRIPTION

       batcat  prints the syntax-highlighted content of a collection of FILEs to the terminal. If
       no FILE is specified, or when FILE is '-', it reads from standard input.

       batcat supports a large number of programming and markup languages.  It also  communicates
       with  git(1)  to  show  modifications with respect to the git index.  batcat automatically
       pipes its output through a pager (by default: less).

       Whenever the output of batcat goes to a non-interactive terminal, i.e. when the output  is
       piped  into  another  process or into a file, batcat will act as a drop-in replacement for
       cat(1) and fall back to printing the plain file contents.

OPTIONS

General remarks: Command-line options like '-l'/'--language' that take values can be
specified as either '--language value', '--language=value', '-l value' or '-lvalue'.

-A, --show-all

Show non-printable characters like space, tab or newline. Use '--tabs' to control
the width of the tab-placeholders.

--nonprintable-notation <notation>

Specify how to display non-printable characters when using --show-all.

Possible values:

caret Use character sequences like ^G, ^J, ^@, .. to identify non-printable
characters

unicode
Use special Unicode code points to identify non-printable characters

-p, --plain

Only show plain style, no decorations. This is an alias for '--style=plain'. When
'-p' is used twice ('-pp'), it also disables automatic paging (alias for
'--style=plain --paging=never').

-l, --language <language>

Explicitly set the language for syntax highlighting. The language can be specified
as a name (like 'C++' or 'LaTeX') or possible file extension (like 'cpp', 'hpp' or
'md'). Use '--list-languages' to show all supported language names and file
extensions.

-H, --highlight-line <N:M>...

Highlight the specified line ranges with a different background color. For example:

--highlight-line 40
highlights line 40

--highlight-line 30:40
highlights lines 30 to 40

--highlight-line :40
highlights lines 1 to 40

--highlight-line 40:
highlights lines 40 to the end of the file

--highlight-line 30:+10
highlights lines 30 to 40

--file-name <name>...

Specify the name to display for a file. Useful when piping data to batcat from
STDIN when batcat does not otherwise know the filename. Note that the provided file
name is also used for syntax detection.

-d, --diff

Only show lines that have been added/removed/modified with respect to the Git
index. Use '--diff-context=N' to control how much context you want to see.

--diff-context <N>...

Include N lines of context around added/removed/modified lines when using '--diff'.

--tabs <T>

Set the tab width to T spaces. Use a width of 0 to pass tabs through directly

--wrap <mode>

Specify the text-wrapping mode (*auto*, never, character). The '--terminal-width'
option can be used in addition to control the output width.

--terminal-width <width>

Explicitly set the width of the terminal instead of determining it automatically.
If prefixed with '+' or '-', the value will be treated as an offset to the actual
terminal width. See also: '--wrap'.

-n, --number

Only show line numbers, no other decorations. This is an alias for
'--style=numbers'

--color <when>

Specify when to use colored output. The automatic mode only enables colors if an
interactive terminal is detected. Possible values: *auto*, never, always.

--italic-text <when>

Specify when to use ANSI sequences for italic text in the output. Possible values:
always, *never*.

--decorations <when>

Specify when to use the decorations that have been specified via '--style'. The
automatic mode only enables decorations if an interactive terminal is detected.
Possible values: *auto*, never, always.

-f, --force-colorization

Alias for '--decorations=always --color=always'. This is useful if the output of
batcat is piped to another program, but you want to keep the
colorization/decorations.

--paging <when>

Specify when to use the pager. To disable the pager, use '--paging=never' or its
alias, -P. To disable the pager permanently, set BAT_PAGER to an empty string. To
control which pager is used, see the '--pager' option. Possible values: *auto*,
never, always.

--pager <command>

Determine which pager is used. This option will override the PAGER and BAT_PAGER
environment variables. The default pager is 'less'. To control when the pager is
used, see the '--paging' option. Example: '--pager "less -RF"'.

Note: By default, if the pager is set to 'less' (and no command-line options are
specified), 'bat' will pass the following command line options to the pager:
'-R'/'--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS', '-F'/'--quit-if-one-screen' and '-X'/'--no-init'. The
last option ('-X') is only used for 'less' versions older than 530. The '-R' option
is needed to interpret ANSI colors correctly. The second option ('-F') instructs
less to exit immediately if the output size is smaller than the vertical size of
the terminal. This is convenient for small files because you do not have to press
'q' to quit the pager. The third option ('-X') is needed to fix a bug with the
'--quit-if-one-screen' feature in old versions of 'less'. Unfortunately, it also
breaks mouse-wheel support in 'less'. If you want to enable mouse-wheel scrolling
on older versions of 'less', you can pass just '-R' (as in the example above, this
will disable the quit-if-one-screen feature). For less 530 or newer, it should work
out of the box.

-m, --map-syntax <glob-pattern:syntax-name>...

Map a glob pattern to an existing syntax name. The glob pattern is matched on the
full path and the filename. For example, to highlight *.build files with the Python
syntax, use -m '*.build:Python'. To highlight files named '.myignore' with the Git
Ignore syntax, use -m '.myignore:Git Ignore'. Note that the right-hand side is the
*name* of the syntax, not a file extension.

--theme <theme>

Set the theme for syntax highlighting. Use '--list-themes' to see all available
themes. To set a default theme, add the '--theme="..."' option to the
configuration file or export the BAT_THEME environment variable (e.g.: export
BAT_THEME="...").

--list-themes

Display a list of supported themes for syntax highlighting.

--style <style-components>

Configure which elements (line numbers, file headers, grid borders, Git
modifications, ..) to display in addition to the file contents. The argument is a
comma-separated list of components to display (e.g. 'numbers,changes,grid') or a
pre-defined style ('full'). To set a default style, add the '--style=".."' option
to the configuration file or export the BAT_STYLE environment variable (e.g.:
export BAT_STYLE=".."). Possible values: *default*, full, auto, plain, changes,
header, header-filename, header-filesize, grid, rule, numbers, snip.

-r, --line-range <N:M>...

Only print the specified range of lines for each file. For example:

--line-range 30:40
prints lines 30 to 40

--line-range :40
prints lines 1 to 40

--line-range 40:
prints lines 40 to the end of the file

--line-range 30:+10
prints lines 30 to 40

-L, --list-languages

Display a list of supported languages for syntax highlighting.

-u, --unbuffered

This option exists for POSIX-compliance reasons ('u' is for 'unbuffered'). The
output is always unbuffered - this option is simply ignored.

-h, --help

Print this help message.

-V, --version

Show version information.

POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS

       <FILE>...

              Files to print and concatenate. Use a dash ('-') or no argument at all to read from
              standard input.

SUBCOMMANDS

       cache - Modify the syntax-definition and theme cache.

FILES

       batcat  can  also  be  customized  with  a configuration file. The location of the file is
       dependent on your operating system. To get the default path for your system, call:

       batcat --config-file

       Alternatively, you can use the BAT_CONFIG_PATH environment variable to point batcat  to  a
       non-default location of the configuration file.

       To generate a default configuration file, call:

       batcat --generate-config-file

ADDING CUSTOM LANGUAGES

       batcat  supports Sublime Text .sublime-syntax language files, and can be customized to add
       additional languages to your local installation.  To  do  this,  add  the  .sublime-syntax
       language files to `$(batcat --config-dir)/syntaxes` and run `batcat cache --build`.

       Example:

            mkdir -p "$(batcat --config-dir)/syntaxes"
            cd "$(batcat --config-dir)/syntaxes"

            # Put new '.sublime-syntax' language definition files
            # in this folder (or its subdirectories), for example:
            git clone https://github.com/tellnobody1/sublime-purescript-syntax

            # And then build the cache.
            batcat cache --build

       Once the cache is built, the new language will be visible in `batcat --list-languages`.
       If  you  ever  want  to  remove the custom languages, you can clear the cache with `batcat
       cache --clear`.

ADDING CUSTOM THEMES

       Similarly to custom languages, batcat supports Sublime Text .tmTheme themes.  These can be
       installed  to  `$(batcat  --config-dir)/themes`,  and  are added to the cache with `batcat
       cache --build`.

INPUT PREPROCESSOR

       Much like less(1) does, batcat supports input preprocessors via the LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE
       environment  variables.   In  addition,  batcat  attempts  to be as compatible with less's
       preprocessor implementation as possible.

       To use the preprocessor, call:

       batcat --lessopen

       Alternatively, the preprocessor may be enabled  by  default  by  adding  the  '--lessopen'
       option to the configuration file.

       To temporarily disable the preprocessor if it is enabled by default, call:

       batcat --no-lessopen

       For more information, see the "INPUT PREPROCESSOR" section of less(1).

MORE INFORMATION

       For more information and up-to-date documentation, visit the batcat repo:
       https://github.com/sharkdp/bat

                                                                                        BATCAT(1)