bat — A cat Clone with Wings and Syntax Highlighting

What it is

bat is a command-line tool that serves as a drop-in replacement for the Unix cat command. It adds syntax highlighting for over 200 languages, Git integration (showing modified lines), automatic paging, line numbers, and theme support. Written in Rust, it is fast and has no runtime dependencies beyond the binary.

bat targets developers, sysadmins, and anyone who reads code or configuration files in the terminal. If you use cat to view files, bat makes the output immediately more readable.

How it saves time or tokens

Reading raw file output in the terminal without syntax highlighting means mentally parsing code structure. bat adds color-coded syntax, line numbers, and Git change markers automatically. For reviewing configuration files, log snippets, or code during debugging, this visual structure reduces the time to understand what you are looking at. It integrates with tools like fzf, ripgrep, and man for enhanced workflows.

How to use

1. Install bat:

brew install bat                        # macOS
sudo apt install bat                    # Debian/Ubuntu (may be batcat)
cargo install bat                       # From source

1. Use it like cat:

bat file.py                             # View with highlighting
bat src/*.rs                            # Multiple files
bat -A config.yml                       # Show non-printable characters

1. Optionally alias cat to bat in your shell config.

Example

# View a Python file with syntax highlighting
bat app.py

# Show only specific line range
bat --line-range 10:20 main.go

# Use as a pager for other tools
export MANPAGER="sh -c 'col -bx | bat -l man -p'"
git diff | bat

# Combine with ripgrep for highlighted search results
rg --json 'TODO' | bat --language json

# List available themes
bat --list-themes

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Common pitfalls

• On Debian/Ubuntu, the package may install as batcat due to a naming conflict. Create an alias: alias bat=batcat.
• bat uses a pager by default (less). For piping output to other commands, use bat --paging=never or bat -p to get plain output.
• Custom themes need to be placed in the bat config directory and rebuilt with bat cache --build. Themes from VS Code can be converted.