Toolbox Aid

August 9th, 2024 1:36 PM Mr. Q Categories: Command

Command: zcat

The zcat command is used to view the contents of a compressed file without actually extracting it. It works with files compressed using gzip and displays the file’s content to standard output (stdout).

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Sample Commands and Outputs:

• zcat file.txt.gz: Displays the contents of file.txt.gz without decompressing the file to disk. Sample Command and Output:

  $ zcat file.txt.gz

Description:

• file.txt.gz: The compressed file to be viewed.
• The command prints the uncompressed contents of file.txt.gz to the terminal.
• zcat -v file.txt.gz: Displays verbose information while showing the contents. Sample Command and Output:

  $ zcat -v file.txt.gz

Description:

• -v: Verbose mode. Shows additional information about the file while displaying its content.
• zcat file1.gz file2.gz: Displays the contents of multiple compressed files, concatenated. Sample Command and Output:

  $ zcat file1.gz file2.gz

Description:

• file1.gz file2.gz: Multiple compressed files to be concatenated and displayed.

Note: zcat only works with files compressed using gzip. For files compressed with other algorithms (e.g., bzip2 or xz), you would use commands like bzcat or xzcat respectively.