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1<p align="center">
2 <img src="doc/logo-header.svg" alt="bat - a cat clone with wings"><br>
3 <a href="https://travis-ci.org/sharkdp/bat"><img src="https://travis-ci.org/sharkdp/bat.svg?branch=master" alt="Build Status"></a>
4 <a href="https://ci.appveyor.com/project/sharkdp/bat"><img src="https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/cptsmtbiwbnr2vhf?svg=true"></a>
5 <img src="https://img.shields.io/crates/l/bat.svg" alt="license">
6 <a href="https://crates.io/crates/bat"><img src="https://img.shields.io/crates/v/bat.svg?colorB=319e8c" alt="Version info"></a><br>
7 A <i>cat(1)</i> clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.
8</p>
10<p align="center">
11 <a href="#syntax-highlighting">Key Features</a> •
12 <a href="#how-to-use">How To Use</a> •
13 <a href="#installation">Installation</a> •
14 <a href="#customization">Customization</a> •
15 <a href="#project-goals-and-alternatives">Project goals, alternatives</a> •
16 Translation [<a href="https://github.com/chinanf-boy/bat-zh">中文</a>][<a href="doc/README-ja.md">日本文</a>]
17</p>
19### Syntax highlighting
21`bat` supports syntax highlighting for a large number of programming and markup
22languages:
24![Syntax highlighting example](https://imgur.com/rGsdnDe.png)
26### Git integration
28`bat` communicates with `git` to show modifications with respect to the index
29(see left side bar):
31![Git integration example](https://i.imgur.com/2lSW4RE.png)
33### Show non-printable characters
35You can use the `-A`/`--show-all` option to show and highlight non-printable
36characters:
38![Non-printable character example](https://i.imgur.com/WndGp9H.png)
40### Automatic paging
42`bat` can pipe its own output to `less` if the output is too large for one screen.
44### File concatenation
46Oh.. you can also use it to concatenate files :wink:. Whenever
47`bat` detects a non-interactive terminal (i.e. when you pipe into another process
48or into a file), `bat` will act as a drop-in replacement for `cat` and
49fall back to printing the plain file contents.
51## How to use
53Display a single file on the terminal
55```bash
56> bat README.md
57```
59Display multiple files at once
61```bash
62> bat src/*.rs
63```
65Read from stdin, determine the syntax automatically
67```bash
68> curl -s https://sh.rustup.rs | bat
69```
71Read from stdin, specify the language explicitly
73```bash
74> yaml2json .travis.yml | json_pp | bat -l json
75```
77Show and highlight non-printable characters:
78```bash
79> bat -A /etc/hosts
80```
82Use it as a `cat` replacement:
84```bash
85bat > note.md # quickly create a new file
87bat header.md content.md footer.md > document.md
89bat -n main.rs # show line numbers (only)
91bat f - g # output 'f', then stdin, then 'g'.
92```
94### Integration with other tools
96#### `find` or `fd`
98You can use the `-exec` option of `find` to preview all search results with `bat`:
99```bash
100find … -exec bat {} +
101```
103If you happen to use [`fd`](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd), you can use the `-X`/`--exec-batch` option to do the same:
104```bash
105fd … -X bat
106```
108#### `ripgrep`
110With [`batgrep`](https://github.com/eth-p/bat-extras/blob/master/doc/batgrep.md), `bat` can be used as the printer for [`ripgrep`](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep) search results.
112```bash
113batgrep needle src/
114```
116#### `tail -f`
118`bat` can be combined with `tail -f` to continuously monitor a given file with syntax highlighting.
119```bash
120tail -f /var/log/pacman.log | bat --paging=never -l log
121```
122Note that we have to switch off paging in order for this to work. We have also specified the syntax
123explicitly (`-l log`), as it can not be auto-detected in this case.
125#### `git`
127You can combine `bat` with `git show` to view an older version of a given file with proper syntax
128highlighting:
129```bash
130git show v0.6.0:src/main.rs | bat -l rs
131```
133Note that syntax highlighting within diffs is currently not supported. If you are looking for this, check out [`delta`](https://github.com/dandavison/delta).
135#### `xclip`
137The line numbers and Git modification markers in the output of `bat` can make it hard to copy
138the contents of a file. To prevent this, you can call `bat` with the `-p`/`--plain` option or
139simply pipe the output into `xclip`:
140```bash
141bat main.cpp | xclip
142```
143`bat` will detect that the output is being redirected and print the plain file contents.
145#### `man`
147`bat` can be used as a colorizing pager for `man`, by setting the
148`MANPAGER` environment variable:
150```bash
151export MANPAGER="sh -c 'col -bx | bat -l man -p'"
152man 2 select
153```
155It might also be necessary to set `MANROFFOPT="-c"` if you experience
156formatting problems.
158If you prefer to have this bundled in a new command, you can also use [`batman`](https://github.com/eth-p/bat-extras/blob/master/doc/batman.md).
160Note that the [Manpage syntax](assets/syntaxes/Manpage.sublime-syntax) is developed in this repository and still needs some work.
162#### `prettier` / `shfmt` / `rustfmt`
164The [`prettybat`](https://github.com/eth-p/bat-extras/blob/master/doc/prettybat.md) script is a wrapper that will format code and print it with `bat`.
167## Installation
169[![Packaging status](https://repology.org/badge/vertical-allrepos/bat.svg)](https://repology.org/project/bat/versions)
171### On Ubuntu
172*... and other Debian-based Linux distributions.*
174You can install [the Ubuntu `bat` package](https://packages.ubuntu.com/eoan/bat) or [the Debian `bat` package](https://packages.debian.org/sid/bat) since Ubuntu Eoan 19.10 or Debian unstable sid.
176```bash
177apt install bat
178```
180If you want to run the latest release of bat or if you are on older versions of Ubuntu/Debian, download the latest `.deb` package from the [release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases)
181and install it via:
182```bash
183sudo dpkg -i bat_0.12.1_amd64.deb # adapt version number and architecture
184```
186### On Alpine Linux
188You can install [the `bat` package](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages?name=bat)
189from the official sources, provided you have the appropriate repository enabled:
191```bash
192apk add bat
193```
195### On Arch Linux
197You can install [the `bat` package](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/bat/)
198from the official sources:
200```bash
201pacman -S bat
202```
204### On Fedora
206You can install [the `bat` package](https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/packageinfo?packageID=27506) from the official [Fedora Modular](https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/modularity/using-modules/) repository.
208```bash
209dnf install bat
210```
212### On Gentoo Linux
214You can install [the `bat` package](https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/sys-apps/bat)
215from the official sources:
217```bash
218emerge sys-apps/bat
219```
221### On Void Linux
223You can install `bat` via xbps-install:
224```bash
225xbps-install -S bat
226```
228### On FreeBSD
230You can install a precompiled [`bat` package](https://www.freshports.org/textproc/bat) with pkg:
232```bash
233pkg install bat
234```
236or build it on your own from the FreeBSD ports:
238```bash
239cd /usr/ports/textproc/bat
240make install
241```
243### Via nix
245You can install `bat` using the [nix package manager](https://nixos.org/nix):
247```bash
248nix-env -i bat
249```
251### On openSUSE
253You can install `bat` with zypper:
255```bash
256zypper install bat
257```
259### On macOS
261You can install `bat` with [Homebrew](http://braumeister.org/formula/bat):
263```bash
264brew install bat
265```
267Or install `bat` with [MacPorts](https://ports.macports.org/port/bat/summary):
269```bash
270port install bat
271```
273### On Windows
275You can download prebuilt binaries from the [Release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases),
276or install it with [scoop](https://scoop.sh/) or [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org):
278```bash
279scoop install bat
280```
282```bash
283choco install bat
284```
286[See below](#using-bat-on-windows) for notes.
288### Via Docker
290There is a [Docker image](https://hub.docker.com/r/danlynn/bat/) that you can use to run `bat` in a container:
291```bash
292docker pull danlynn/bat
293alias bat='docker run -it --rm -e BAT_THEME -e BAT_STYLE -e BAT_TABS -v "$(pwd):/myapp" danlynn/bat'
294```
296### Via Ansible
298You can install `bat` with [Ansible](https://www.ansible.com/):
300```bash
301# Install role on local machine
302ansible-galaxy install aeimer.install_bat
303```
305```yaml
306---
307# Playbook to install bat
308- host: all
309 roles:
310 - aeimer.install_bat
311```
313- [Ansible Galaxy](https://galaxy.ansible.com/aeimer/install_bat)
314- [GitHub](https://github.com/aeimer/ansible-install-bat)
316This should work with the following distributions:
317- Debian/Ubuntu
318- ARM (eg. Raspberry PI)
319- Arch Linux
320- Void Linux
321- FreeBSD
322- MacOS
324### From binaries
326Check out the [Release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases) for
327prebuilt versions of `bat` for many different architectures. Statically-linked
328binaries are also available: look for archives with `musl` in the file name.
330### From source
332If you want to build `bat` from source, you need Rust 1.35 or
333higher. You can then use `cargo` to build everything:
335```bash
336cargo install bat
337```
339On some platforms, you might need to install `llvm` and/or `libclang-dev`.
341## Customization
343### Highlighting theme
345Use `bat --list-themes` to get a list of all available themes for syntax
346highlighting. To select the `TwoDark` theme, call `bat` with the
347`--theme=TwoDark` option or set the `BAT_THEME` environment variable to
348`TwoDark`. Use `export BAT_THEME="TwoDark"` in your shell's startup file to
349make the change permanent. Alternatively, use `bat`s
350[configuration file](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat#configuration-file).
352If you want to preview the different themes on a custom file, you can use
353the following command (you need [`fzf`](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf) for this):
354```bash
355bat --list-themes | fzf --preview="bat --theme={} --color=always /path/to/file"
356```
358`bat` looks good on a dark background by default. However, if your terminal uses a
359light background, some themes like `GitHub` or `OneHalfLight` will work better for you.
360You can also use a custom theme by following the
361['Adding new themes' section below](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat#adding-new-themes).
363### Output style
365You can use the `--style` option to control the appearance of `bat`s output.
366You can use `--style=numbers,changes`, for example, to show only Git changes
367and line numbers but no grid and no file header. Set the `BAT_STYLE` environment
368variable to make these changes permanent or use `bat`s
369[configuration file](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat#configuration-file).
371### Adding new syntaxes / language definitions
373`bat` uses the excellent [`syntect`](https://github.com/trishume/syntect/)
374library for syntax highlighting. `syntect` can read any
375[Sublime Text `.sublime-syntax` file](https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/syntax.html)
376and theme. To add new syntax definitions, do the following.
378Create a folder with syntax definition files:
380```bash
381mkdir -p "$(bat --config-dir)/syntaxes"
382cd "$(bat --config-dir)/syntaxes"
384# Put new '.sublime-syntax' language definition files
385# in this folder (or its subdirectories), for example:
386git clone https://github.com/tellnobody1/sublime-purescript-syntax
387```
389Now use the following command to parse these files into a binary cache:
391```bash
392bat cache --build
393```
395Finally, use `bat --list-languages` to check if the new languages are available.
397If you ever want to go back to the default settings, call:
399```bash
400bat cache --clear
401```
403### Adding new themes
405This works very similar to how we add new syntax definitions.
407First, create a folder with the new syntax highlighting themes:
408```bash
409mkdir -p "$(bat --config-dir)/themes"
410cd "$(bat --config-dir)/themes"
412# Download a theme in '.tmTheme' format, for example:
413git clone https://github.com/greggb/sublime-snazzy
415# Update the binary cache
416bat cache --build
417```
419Finally, use `bat --list-themes` to check if the new themes are available.
421### Using a different pager
423`bat` uses the pager that is specified in the `PAGER` environment variable. If this variable is not
424set, `less` is used by default. If you want to use a different pager, you can either modify the
425`PAGER` variable or set the `BAT_PAGER` environment variable to override what is specified in
426`PAGER`.
428If you want to pass command-line arguments to the pager, you can also set them via the
429`PAGER`/`BAT_PAGER` variables:
431```bash
432export BAT_PAGER="less -RF"
433```
435Instead of using environment variables, you can also use `bat`s [configuration file](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat#configuration-file) to configure the pager (`--pager` option).
437**Note**: By default, if the pager is set to `less` (and no command-line options are specified),
438`bat` will pass the following command line
439options to the pager: `-R`/`--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS`, `-F`/`--quit-if-one-screen` and `-X`/`--no-init`.
440The first (`-R`) is needed to interpret ANSI colors correctly. The second option (`-F`) instructs
441less to exit immediately if the output size is smaller than the vertical size of the terminal.
442This is convenient for small files because you do not have to press `q` to quit the pager. The
443third option (`-X`) is needed to fix a bug with the `--quit-if-one-screen` feature in old versions
444of `less`. Unfortunately, it also breaks mouse-wheel support in `less`. If you want to enable
445mouse-wheel scrolling, you can either pass just `-R` (as in the example above, this will disable
446the quit-if-one-screen feature), or you can use a recent version of `less` and pass `-RF` which
447will hopefully enable both quit-if-one-screen and mouse-wheel scrolling.
449If scrolling still doesn't work for you, you can try to pass the `-S` option in addition.
451### Dark mode
453If you make use of the dark mode feature in macOS, you might want to configure `bat` to use a different
454theme based on the OS theme. The following snippet uses the `default` theme when in the light mode
455and the `GitHub` theme when in the dark mode.
457```bash
458alias cat="bat --theme=\$(defaults read -globalDomain AppleInterfaceStyle &> /dev/null && echo default || echo GitHub)"
459```
461## Configuration file
463`bat` can also be customized with a configuration file. The location of the file is dependent
464on your operating system. To get the default path for your system, call
465```
466bat --config-file
467```
469Alternatively, you can use the `BAT_CONFIG_PATH` environment variable to point `bat` to a
470non-default location of the configuration file:
471```bash
472export BAT_CONFIG_PATH="/path/to/bat.conf"
473```
475### Format
477The configuration file is a simple list of command line arguments. Use `bat --help` to see a full list of possible options and values. In addition, you can add comments by prepending a line with the `#` character.
479Example configuration file:
480```bash
481# Set the theme to "TwoDark"
482--theme="TwoDark"
484# Show line numbers, Git modifications and file header (but no grid)
485--style="numbers,changes,header"
487# Use italic text on the terminal (not supported on all terminals)
488--italic-text=always
490# Add mouse scrolling support in less (does not work with older
491# versions of "less")
492--pager="less -FR"
494# Use C++ syntax (instead of C) for .h header files
495--map-syntax h:cpp
497# Use "gitignore" highlighting for ".ignore" files
498--map-syntax .ignore:.gitignore
499```
501## Using `bat` on Windows
503`bat` mostly works out-of-the-box on Windows, but a few features may need extra configuration.
505### Paging
507Windows only includes a very limited pager in the form of `more`. You can download a Windows binary
508for `less` [from its homepage](http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/download.html) or [through
509Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org/packages/Less). To use it, place the binary in a directory in
510your `PATH` or [define an environment variable](#using-a-different-pager). The [Chocolatey package](#on-windows) installs `less` automatically.
512### Colors
514Windows 10 natively supports colors in both `conhost.exe` (Command Prompt) and PowerShell since
515[v1511](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10_version_history#Version_1511_(November_Update)), as
516well as in newer versions of bash. On earlier versions of Windows, you can use
517[Cmder](http://cmder.net/), which includes [ConEmu](https://conemu.github.io/).
519**Note:** The Git and MSYS versions of `less` do not correctly interpret colors on Windows. If you
520don’t have any other pagers installed, you can disable paging entirely by passing `--paging=never`
521or by setting `BAT_PAGER` to an empty string.
523### Cygwin
525`bat` on Windows does not natively support Cygwin's unix-style paths (`/cygdrive/*`). When passed an absolute cygwin path as an argument, `bat` will encounter the following error: `The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3)`
527This can be solved by creating a wrapper or adding the following function to your `.bash_profile` file:
529```bash
530bat() {
531 local index
532 local args=("$@")
533 for index in $(seq 0 ${#args[@]}) ; do
534 case "${args[index]}" in
535 -*) continue;;
536 *) [ -e "${args[index]}" ] && args[index]="$(cygpath --windows "${args[index]}")";;
537 esac
538 done
539 command bat "${args[@]}"
541```
543## Troubleshooting
545### Terminals & colors
547`bat` handles terminals *with* and *without* truecolor support. However, the colors in the syntax
548highlighting themes are not optimized for 8-bit colors and it is therefore strongly recommended
549that you use a terminal with 24-bit truecolor support (`terminator`, `konsole`, `iTerm2`, ...).
550See [this article](https://gist.github.com/XVilka/8346728) for more details and a full list of
551terminals with truecolor support.
553Make sure that your truecolor terminal sets the `COLORTERM` variable to either `truecolor` or
554`24bit`. Otherwise, `bat` will not be able to determine whether or not 24-bit escape sequences
555are supported (and fall back to 8-bit colors).
557### Line numbers and grid are hardly visible
559Please try a different theme (see `bat --list-themes` for a list). The `OneHalfDark` and
560`OneHalfLight` themes provide grid and line colors that are brighter.
562### File encodings
564`bat` natively supports UTF-8 as well as UTF-16. For every other file encoding, you may need to
565convert to UTF-8 first because the encodings can typically not be auto-detected. You can `iconv`
566to do so.
567Example: if you have a PHP file in Latin-1 (ISO-8859-1) encoding, you can call:
568``` bash
569iconv -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8 my-file.php | bat
570```
571Note: you might have to use the `-l`/`--language` option if the syntax can not be auto-detected
572by `bat`.
574## Development
576```bash
577# Recursive clone to retrieve all submodules
578git clone --recursive https://github.com/sharkdp/bat
580# Build (debug version)
581cd bat
582cargo build --bins
584# Run unit tests and integration tests
585cargo test
587# Install (release version)
588cargo install
590# Build a bat binary with modified syntaxes and themes
591bash assets/create.sh
592cargo install -f
593```
595## Maintainers
597- [sharkdp](https://github.com/sharkdp)
598- [eth-p](https://github.com/eth-p)
600## Project goals and alternatives
602`bat` tries to achieve the following goals:
604- Provide beautiful, advanced syntax highlighting
605- Integrate with Git to show file modifications
606- Be a drop-in replacement for (POSIX) `cat`
607- Offer a user-friendly command-line interface
609There are a lot of alternatives, if you are looking for similar programs. See
610[this document](doc/alternatives.md) for a comparison.