bat

bat is an open source command-line tool that prints files with syntax highlighting and Git integration. It is a modern take on the classic cat command.

bat shows the contents of files in the terminal with color, line numbers and a pager. It detects the language from the file name and highlights the syntax. It also marks lines that Git reports as changed. For everyday viewing of code and config files, you can use it on the command line in place of cat.

• Syntax highlighting for many languages
• Line numbers and a pager for long files
• Git change markers in the margin
• Selectable color themes
• Can replace cat for everyday file viewing

Developers and engineers who read code and config files in the terminal, and anyone who wants a more readable version of cat.

bat is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license, with source on GitHub. It is distributed as a single command-line program for Windows, macOS and Linux. When its output is piped to another command, bat drops the decorations and prints plain text.