Bat Command on Linux with Examples

The bat command is a modern alternative to the traditional cat command in Linux, offering enhanced features such as syntax highlighting, Git integration, and improved readability. This powerful utility transforms how you view files in the terminal, making it easier to understand file contents through visual enhancements and additional functionality. Whether you’re a developer examining code or a system administrator reviewing configuration files, bat can significantly improve your command-line experience.

What is the Bat Command?

Bat is a feature-rich clone of the cat command that’s often described as “cat with wings.” Written in the Rust programming language, bat brings modern features to the simple task of displaying file contents in the terminal. The name itself is a clever play on “cat,” suggesting its evolutionary advancement over the original command.

Unlike the basic cat command that outputs plain text, bat intelligently formats and displays content with additional features that enhance readability and provide context. It’s particularly valuable for users who:

• Work with programming code and need syntax highlighting
• Review changes in files tracked by Git repositories
• Need better visualization with line numbers and formatting
• Want smarter pagination for viewing large files
• Require more informative output when examining configuration files

As an open-source project, bat has gained significant popularity among Linux users who work extensively with text files and source code.

Bat vs. Cat: Key Differences and Advantages

While both bat and cat serve the fundamental purpose of displaying file contents, bat offers several significant improvements that make it a superior choice for many scenarios.

The most immediate difference is visual presentation. When using cat, you get plain text output without formatting or enhancement. In contrast, bat automatically applies syntax highlighting based on the file type, making it much easier to read code, configuration files, and structured text. This highlighting helps distinguish between different elements such as variables, comments, strings, and keywords.

Git integration is another powerful feature unique to bat. When viewing files within a Git repository, bat automatically shows Git modifications with visual indicators, helping you quickly identify added, modified, or deleted lines without running separate git diff commands.

Bat also includes built-in pagination by default. Unlike cat, which dumps all content to the terminal regardless of file size, bat automatically pipes output through a pager (like less) when content exceeds the screen size.

Here’s a feature comparison highlighting the key differences:

While cat remains useful for simple tasks and scripts where plain output is required, bat excels in interactive use cases where readability and context matter.

Installation Guide

The installation process for bat varies depending on your Linux distribution. This section covers installation methods for popular distributions.

Debian/Ubuntu Installation

On Debian-based systems including Ubuntu, install bat using the apt package manager:

sudo apt install bat

Due to a package naming conflict with bacula-console-qt, bat is installed as batcat on Debian and Ubuntu systems. To use the command as simply “bat” instead of “batcat,” create a symbolic link:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
ln -s /usr/bin/batcat ~/.local/bin/bat

Ensure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH. Alternatively, you can create an alias by adding this line to your ~/.bashrc:

alias bat="batcat"

After editing your .bashrc file, run source ~/.bashrc to apply the changes.

Fedora Installation

For Fedora users, installation is straightforward using the dnf package manager:

sudo dnf install bat

Fedora maintains bat in its standard repositories, so you shouldn’t encounter any naming conflicts.

Enterprise Linux Installation (CentOS/AlmaLinux)

On CentOS, AlmaLinux, or other Enterprise Linux distributions, bat might not be available in the standard repositories. You’ll need to install it manually:

First, ensure you have the necessary tools:

sudo yum install tar

Next, determine your system’s architecture:

uname -a

Download the appropriate release package from the bat GitHub repository. For example:

curl -o bat.zip -L https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases/download/v0.18.2/bat-v0.18.2-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
tar -xvzf bat.zip
sudo mv bat-v0.18.2-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl /usr/local/bat

Create an alias by adding this line to your ~/.bashrc file:

alias bat="/usr/local/bat/bat"

Arch Linux Installation

Arch Linux users can install bat from the Community repository:

sudo pacman -S bat

For additional functionality, you might want to install bat-extras as well:

sudo pacman -S bat-extras

After installation, verify bat is working correctly:

bat --version

Basic Usage with Examples

Once you have bat installed, you can start using it immediately with a syntax similar to the cat command. The basic usage is:

bat filename.txt

This command displays the file contents with syntax highlighting (if applicable), line numbers, and Git integration if the file is part of a Git repository. The output is automatically paged if it exceeds your terminal window size.

For viewing multiple files at once, simply list them as arguments:

bat file1.txt file2.txt

Bat will display each file sequentially, with clear headers indicating file names to help distinguish between them.

Here are some practical examples showing bat’s versatility:

Viewing a configuration file:

bat /etc/ssh/sshd_config

The syntax highlighting makes it easier to distinguish between comments, settings, and values in configuration files.

Examining a Python script:

bat script.py

Bat automatically applies Python-specific syntax highlighting, making variables, functions, and control structures visually distinct.

Reading log files:

bat /var/log/syslog

The line numbering makes it easier to reference specific log entries when troubleshooting.

Piping content to bat:

ls -l | bat

This command pipes the output of ls -l through bat, applying formatting to make the directory listing more readable.

When used in a pipeline where its output is redirected to another command or to a file, bat automatically falls back to a plain output mode to prevent formatting characters from interfering with the next command.

Syntax Highlighting Capabilities

One of bat’s most powerful features is its robust syntax highlighting capability, which significantly improves readability when viewing code and configuration files.

Automatic Language Detection

By default, bat uses the file extension to determine which syntax highlighting rules to apply. This automatic detection works for hundreds of file types without any user intervention. For files without extensions or with non-standard names, bat attempts to detect the language based on file content.

Manually Specifying Languages

Sometimes you might want to override the automatic language detection. You can explicitly specify a language using the --language or -l option:

bat -l python script.txt

This command forces bat to use Python syntax highlighting for script.txt, regardless of its extension.

To see a complete list of supported languages, use:

bat --list-languages

This command outputs all languages supported by bat, along with their associated file extensions and common filenames.

Real-World Examples

The difference between viewing files with cat versus bat is striking. Consider this Python file example:

bat reverse.py

While cat would show plain text, bat displays the code with syntax highlighting, clearly distinguishing between functions, variables, strings, and comments. Line numbers are shown in a neat tabular column format, making the code much more readable and easier to reference.

For HTML files, bat highlights tags, attributes, and content in distinct colors, helping you quickly identify page structure:

bat index.html

JSON data becomes much more understandable with proper highlighting of keys, values, and nested structures:

cat data.json | bat -l json

Advanced Features and Options

Beyond basic functionality, bat offers advanced features that enhance its utility for different scenarios.

Line Numbering and Display

Bat displays line numbers by default, but you can modify this behavior using various options:

• Show only line numbers without other decorations:

  bat -n reverse.py

  This displays the file with only line numbers, removing other elements like the header and grid.

• Disable line numbers with --style=plain or -p:

  bat --style=plain filename.txt

• Customize the style by combining multiple style components:

  bat --style=numbers,changes filename.txt

Git Integration

Bat’s Git integration automatically highlights changes in files that are part of Git repositories:

• Added lines are indicated with a + symbol in the gutter
• Modified lines have a ~ symbol
• Deleted lines show up as a gap with a - symbol

This visual indication makes it easy to see what has changed since the last commit without running separate git commands.

Paging and Navigation

Bat uses a pager (typically less) by default when output exceeds screen size. You can control this behavior:

bat --paging=always large_file.log

When using the pager, you can navigate using the same commands as less, including:

• j or down arrow to move down one line
• k or up arrow to move up one line
• f or Space to move forward one screen
• b to move backward one screen
• /pattern to search forward for a pattern
• q to quit

Display Options

Bat offers several options to customize how content is displayed:

• Show non-printable characters with -A or --show-all:

  bat -A filename.txt

  This makes spaces, tabs, and other whitespace characters visible.

• Disable wrapping for long lines:

  bat --wrap=never long_line_file.txt

Range Selection and Filtering

Bat offers powerful capabilities for selecting and viewing specific portions of files, which is particularly useful when working with large files or when you need to focus on particular sections of code or text.

The primary way to select specific lines is with the --line-range or -r option, which supports various formats:

'-r 30:40' prints lines 30 to 40
'-r :40' prints lines 1 to 40
'-r 40:' prints lines 40 to the end of the file
'-r 40' only prints line 40
'-r 30:+10' prints lines 30 to 40

These range options eliminate the need for combining multiple tools like head, tail, and grep in many common scenarios.

For example, to view only lines 13 to 24 of a file:

bat --line-range 13:24 bin/bashscripts/sysadmin/topprocs.sh

You can also specify multiple ranges by providing the -r option multiple times:

bat -r 10:20 -r 30:40 filename.txt

This command displays lines 10-20 and lines 30-40, skipping the lines in between.

Theming and Customization

Bat offers extensive customization options through themes and styles, allowing you to tailor the visual appearance to your preferences.

Available Themes

Bat comes with numerous built-in themes adapted from popular code editors. To see all available themes, use:

bat --list-themes

To apply a theme temporarily, use the --theme option:

bat --theme=Github script.py

To make a theme selection permanent, you can set the BAT_THEME environment variable in your shell configuration file:

export BAT_THEME="Github"

Customizing Styles

Bat’s style system controls which UI elements are displayed. The available style components include:

• plain: No decorations, similar to cat but with syntax highlighting
• changes: Show Git modifications
• header: Show filenames
• grid: Show grid borders
• numbers: Show line numbers

You can combine these components to create custom styles:

bat --style="numbers,changes" file.txt

To set a default style, use the BAT_STYLE environment variable:

export BAT_STYLE="header,grid,numbers"

Integration with Other Tools

One of bat’s strengths is its ability to integrate seamlessly with other command-line tools, enhancing their output and creating more powerful workflows.

Using Bat in Pipelines

Bat automatically detects when its output is being piped to another command and adapts its behavior accordingly:

bat file.log | grep "ERROR"

Bat outputs plain text without decorations when piped, making it compatible with text processing tools.

The bat-extras Package

The bat-extras package extends bat’s functionality with specialized tools:

• batgrep: Enhanced grep with bat’s syntax highlighting

  batgrep "function main" *.c

• batman: Colorized man page viewing

  batman find

• batdiff: Highlighted file comparison

  batdiff file1.txt file2.txt

• batwatch: File monitoring

  batwatch file.log

• prettybat: Code formatting with highlighting

  prettybat script.py

Integration with FZF (Fuzzy Finder)

Bat pairs exceptionally well with fzf for interactive file exploration:

fzf --preview 'bat --color=always --style=numbers --line-range=:500 {}'

This command creates an interactive file browser that shows highlighted previews of files as you navigate through them.

Performance Considerations

While bat offers numerous advantages over cat, there are performance implications to consider, especially when working with very large files or in resource-constrained environments.

Bat requires more system resources than cat due to its additional features:

• It loads the entire file into memory for parsing and highlighting
• The syntax highlighting and Git integration features require additional processing power
• It has a slightly longer startup time as it loads syntax definitions

For small to medium-sized files (up to several MB), these differences are negligible on modern systems. However, they become more apparent with very large files.

When choosing between bat and cat, consider:

• Use bat for:
  • Interactive code review and reading
  • Configuration file examination
  • Any file where syntax highlighting improves readability
  • Medium-sized log file inspection
• Consider cat for:
  • Very large files (hundreds of MB or GB)
  • Scripts and automation where performance is critical
  • Simple text viewing without need for enhanced features
  • Systems with severe resource constraints

To optimize bat’s performance with large files, you can disable features when needed:

bat --plain huge_file.txt