Acat(1)clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.

Key Features• How To Use• Installation• Customization• Project goals, alternatives
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Syntax highlighting

batsupports syntax highlighting for a large number of programming and markup languages:

Git integration

batcommunicates withgitto show modifications with respect to the index (see left side bar):

Show non-printable characters

You can use the-A/--show-alloption to show and highlight non-printable characters:

Automatic paging

By default,batpipes its own output to a pager (e.g.less) if the output is too large for one screen. If you would ratherbatwork likecatall the time (never page output), you can set--paging=neveras an option, either on the command line or in your configuration file. If you intend to aliascattobatin your shell configuration, you can usealias cat='bat --paging=never'to preserve the default behavior.

File concatenation

Even with a pager set, you can still usebatto concatenate files 😉. Wheneverbatdetects a non-interactive terminal (i.e. when you pipe into another process or into a file),batwill act as a drop-in replacement forcatand fall back to printing the plain file contents, regardless of the--pageroption's value.

How to use

Display a single file on the terminal

>bat README.md

Display multiple files at once

>bat src/*.rs

Read from stdin, determine the syntax automatically (note, highlighting will only work if the syntax can be determined from the first line of the file, usually through a shebang such as#!/bin/sh)

>curl -s https://sh.rustup.rs|bat

Read from stdin, specify the language explicitly

>yaml2json.travis.yml|json_pp|bat -l json

Show and highlight non-printable characters:

>bat -A /etc/hosts

Use it as acatreplacement:

bat>note.md#quickly create a new file

bat header.md content.md footer.md>document.md

bat -n main.rs#show line numbers (only)

bat f - g#output 'f', then stdin, then 'g'.

Integration with other tools

fzf

You can usebatas a previewer forfzf.To do this, usebats--color=alwaysoption to force colorized output. You can also use--line-range option to restrict the load times for long files:

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

For more information, seefzf'sREADME.

findorfd

You can use the-execoption offindto preview all search results withbat:

find… -exec bat {} +

If you happen to usefd,you can use the-X/--exec-batchoption to do the same:

fd… -X bat

ripgrep

Withbatgrep,batcan be used as the printer forripgrepsearch results.

batgrep needle src/

tail -f

batcan be combined withtail -fto continuously monitor a given file with syntax highlighting.

tail -f /var/log/pacman.log|bat --paging=never -l log

Note that we have to switch off paging in order for this to work. We have also specified the syntax explicitly (-l log), as it can not be auto-detected in this case.

git

You can combinebatwithgit showto view an older version of a given file with proper syntax highlighting:

git show v0.6.0:src/main.rs|bat -l rs

git diff

You can combinebatwithgit diffto view lines around code changes with proper syntax highlighting:

batdiff() {
git diff --name-only --relative --diff-filter=d|xargs bat --diff
}

If you prefer to use this as a separate tool, check outbatdiffinbat-extras.

If you are looking for more support for git and diff operations, check outdelta.

xclip

The line numbers and Git modification markers in the output ofbatcan make it hard to copy the contents of a file. To prevent this, you can callbatwith the-p/--plainoption or simply pipe the output intoxclip:

bat main.cpp|xclip

batwill detect that the output is being redirected and print the plain file contents.

man

batcan be used as a colorizing pager forman,by setting the MANPAGERenvironment variable:

exportMANPAGER="sh -c 'col -bx | bat -l man -p'"
man 2select

(replacebatwithbatcatif you are on Debian or Ubuntu)

It might also be necessary to setMANROFFOPT= "-c"if you experience formatting problems.

If you prefer to have this bundled in a new command, you can also usebatman.

Note that theManpage syntaxis developed in this repository and still needs some work.

Also, note that this willnot workwith Mandocsmanimplementation.

prettier/shfmt/rustfmt

Theprettybatscript is a wrapper that will format code and print it withbat.

Highlighting--helpmessages

You can usebatto colorize help text:$ cp --help | bat -plhelp

You can also use a wrapper around this:

#in your.bashrc/.zshrc/*rc
aliasbathelp='bat --plain --language=help'
help() {
"$@"--help2>&1|bathelp
}

Then you can do$ help cpor$ help git commit.

When you are usingzsh,you can also use global aliases to override-hand--helpentirely:

alias-g -- -h='-h 2>&1 | bat --language=help --style=plain'
alias-g -- --help='--help 2>&1 | bat --language=help --style=plain'

This way, you can keep on usingcp --help,but get colorized help pages.

Be aware that in some cases,-hmay not be a shorthand of--help(for example withls).

Please report any issues with the help syntax inthis repository.

Installation

On Ubuntu (usingapt)

... and other Debian-based Linux distributions.

batis available onUbuntu since 20.04 ( "Focal" )andDebian since August 2021 (Debian 11 - "Bullseye" ).

If your Ubuntu/Debian installation is new enough you can simply run:

sudo apt install bat

Important:If you installbatthis way, please note that the executable may be installed asbatcatinstead ofbat(due toa name clash with another package). You can set up abat -> batcatsymlink or alias to prevent any issues that may come up because of this and to be consistent with other distributions:

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

On Ubuntu (using most recent.debpackages)

... and other Debian-based Linux distributions.

If the package has not yet been promoted to your Ubuntu/Debian installation, or you want the most recent release ofbat,download the latest.debpackage from the release pageand install it via:

sudo dpkg -i bat_0.18.3_amd64.deb#adapt version number and architecture

On Alpine Linux

You can installthebatpackage from the official sources, provided you have the appropriate repository enabled:

apk add bat

On Arch Linux

You can installthebatpackage from the official sources:

pacman -S bat

On Fedora

You can installthebatpackagefrom the officialFedora Modularrepository.

dnf install bat

On Funtoo Linux

You can installthebatpackagefrom dev-kit.

emerge sys-apps/bat

On Gentoo Linux

You can installthebatpackage from the official sources:

emerge sys-apps/bat

On Void Linux

You can installbatvia xbps-install:

xbps-install -S bat

On Termux

You can installbatvia pkg:

pkg install bat

On FreeBSD

You can install a precompiledbatpackagewith pkg:

pkg install bat

or build it on your own from the FreeBSD ports:

cd/usr/ports/textproc/bat
make install

On OpenBSD

You can installbatpackage usingpkg_add(1):

pkg_add bat

Via nix

You can installbatusing thenix package manager:

nix-env -i bat

Via flox

You can installbatusingFlox

flox install bat

On openSUSE

You can installbatwith zypper:

zypper install bat

Via snap package

There is currently no recommended snap package available. Existing packages may be available, but are not officially supported and may containissues.

On macOS (or Linux) via Homebrew

You can installbatwithHomebrew:

brew install bat

On macOS via MacPorts

Or installbatwithMacPorts:

port install bat

On Windows

There are a few options to installbaton Windows. Once you have installedbat, take a look at the"Usingbaton Windows "section.

Prerequisites

You will need to install theVisual C++ Redistributablepackage.

With WinGet

You can installbatviaWinGet:

winget install sharkdp.bat

With Chocolatey

You can installbatviaChocolatey:

choco install bat

With Scoop

You can installbatviascoop:

scoop install bat

From prebuilt binaries:

You can download prebuilt binaries from theRelease page,

You will need to install theVisual C++ Redistributablepackage.

From binaries

Check out theRelease pagefor prebuilt versions ofbatfor many different architectures. Statically-linked binaries are also available: look for archives withmuslin the file name.

From source

If you want to buildbatfrom source, you need Rust 1.70.0 or higher. You can then usecargoto build everything:

cargo install --locked bat

Note that additional files like the man page or shell completion files can not be installed in this way. They will be generated bycargoand should be available in the cargo target folder (underbuild).

Customization

Highlighting theme

Usebat --list-themesto get a list of all available themes for syntax highlighting. To select theTwoDarktheme, callbatwith the --theme=TwoDarkoption or set theBAT_THEMEenvironment variable to TwoDark.Useexport BAT_THEME= "TwoDark"in your shell's startup file to make the change permanent. Alternatively, usebats configuration file.

If you want to preview the different themes on a custom file, you can use the following command (you needfzffor this):

bat --list-themes|fzf --preview="bat --theme={} --color=always /path/to/file"

batlooks good on a dark background by default. However, if your terminal uses a light background, some themes likeGitHuborOneHalfLightwill work better for you. You can also use a custom theme by following the 'Adding new themes' section below.

8-bit themes

bathas three themes that always use8-bit colors, even when truecolor support is available:

• ansilooks decent on any terminal. It uses 3-bit colors: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white.
• base16is designed forbase16terminal themes. It uses 4-bit colors (3-bit colors plus bright variants) in accordance with the base16 styling guidelines.
• base16-256is designed forbase16-shell. It replaces certain bright colors with 8-bit colors from 16 to 21.Do notuse this simply because you have a 256-color terminal but are not using base16-shell.

Although these themes are more restricted, they have three advantages over truecolor themes. They:

• Enjoy maximum compatibility. Some terminal utilities do not support more than 3-bit colors.
• Adapt to terminal theme changes. Even for already printed output.
• Visually harmonize better with other terminal software.

Output style

You can use the--styleoption to control the appearance ofbats output. You can use--style=numbers,changes,for example, to show only Git changes and line numbers but no grid and no file header. Set theBAT_STYLEenvironment variable to make these changes permanent or usebats configuration file.

Tip

If you specify a default style inbat's config file, you can change which components are displayed during a single run ofbatusing the--stylecommand-line argument. By prefi xing a component with+or-,it can be added or removed from the current style.

For example, if your config contains--style=full,-snip,you can run bat with --style=-grid,+snipto remove the grid and add back thesnipcomponent. Or, if you want to override the styles completely, you use--style=numbersto only show the line numbers.

Adding new syntaxes / language definitions

Should you find that a particular syntax is not available withinbat,you can follow these instructions to easily add new syntaxes to your currentbatinstallation.

batuses the excellentsyntect library for syntax highlighting.syntectcan read any Sublime Text.sublime-syntaxfile and theme.

A good resource for finding Sublime Syntax packages isPackage Control.Once you found a syntax:

1. Create a folder with syntax definition files:

   mkdir -p"$(bat --config-dir)/syntaxes"
   cd"$(bat --config-dir)/syntaxes"
   
   #Put new '.sublime-syntax' language definition files
   #in this folder (or its subdirectories), for example:
   git clone https://github /tellnobody1/sublime-purescript-syntax

2. Now use the following command to parse these files into a binary cache:

   bat cache --build

3. Finally, usebat --list-languagesto check if the new languages are available.

   If you ever want to go back to the default settings, call:

   bat cache --clear

4. If you think that a specific syntax should be included inbatby default, please consider opening a "syntax request" ticket after reading the policies and instructionshere:Open Syntax Request.

Adding new themes

This works very similar to how we add new syntax definitions.

First, create a folder with the new syntax highlighting themes:

mkdir -p"$(bat --config-dir)/themes"
cd"$(bat --config-dir)/themes"

#Download a theme in '.tmTheme' format, for example:
git clone https://github /greggb/sublime-snazzy

#Update the binary cache
bat cache --build

Finally, usebat --list-themesto check if the new themes are available.

Adding or changing file type associations

You can add new (or change existing) file name patterns using the--map-syntax command line option. The option takes an argument of the formpattern:syntaxwhere patternis a glob pattern that is matched against the file name and the absolute file path. Thesyntaxpart is the full name of a supported language (usebat --list-languagesfor an overview).

Note:You probably want to use this option asan entry inbat's configuration file for persistence instead of passing it on the command line as a one-off. Generally you'd just use-lif you want to manually specify a language for a file.

Example: To use "INI" syntax highlighting for all files with a.conffile extension, use

--map-syntax='*.conf:INI'

Example: To open all files called.ignore(exact match) with the "Git Ignore" syntax, use:

--map-syntax='.ignore:Git Ignore'

Example: To open all.conffiles in subfolders of/etc/apache2with the "Apache Conf" syntax, use (this mapping is already built in):

--map-syntax='/etc/apache2/**/*.conf:Apache Conf'

Using a different pager

batuses the pager that is specified in thePAGERenvironment variable. If this variable is not set,lessis used by default. If you want to use a different pager, you can either modify the PAGERvariable or set theBAT_PAGERenvironment variable to override what is specified in PAGER.

Note

IfPAGERismoreormost,batwill silently uselessinstead to ensure support for colors.

If you want to pass command-line arguments to the pager, you can also set them via the PAGER/BAT_PAGERvariables:

exportBAT_PAGER="less -RF"

Instead of using environment variables, you can also usebatsconfiguration fileto configure the pager (--pageroption).

Usinglessas a pager

When usinglessas a pager,batwill automatically pass extra options along toless to improve the experience. Specifically,-R/--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS,-F/--quit-if-one-screen, and under certain conditions,-X/--no-initand/or-S/--chop-long-lines.

Important

These options will not be added if:

• The pager is not namedless.
• The--pagerargument contains any command-line arguments (e.g.--pager= "less -R").
• TheBAT_PAGERenvironment variable contains any command-line arguments (e.g.export BAT_PAGER= "less -R")

The--quit-if-one-screenoption will not be added when:

• The--paging=alwaysargument is used.
• TheBAT_PAGINGenvironment is set toalways.

The-Roption is needed to interpret ANSI colors correctly.

The-Foption instructslessto exit immediately if the output size is smaller than the vertical size of the terminal. This is convenient for small files because you do not have to pressqto quit the pager.

The-Xoption is needed to fix a bug with the--quit-if-one-screenfeature in versions oflessolder than version 530. Unfortunately, it also breaks mouse-wheel support inless. If you want to enable mouse-wheel scrolling on older versions oflessand do not mind losing the quit-if-one-screen feature, you can set the pager (via--pagerorBAT_PAGER) toless -R. Forless530 or newer, it should work out of the box.

The-Soption is added whenbat's-S/--chop-long-linesoption is used. This tellsless to truncate any lines larger than the terminal width.

Indentation

batexpands tabs to 4 spaces by itself, not relying on the pager. To change this, simply add the --tabsargument with the number of spaces you want to be displayed.

Note:Defining tab stops for the pager (via the--pagerargument bybat,or via theLESS environment variable forless) won't be taken into account because the pager will already get expanded spaces instead of tabs. This behaviour is added to avoid indentation issues caused by the sidebar. Callingbatwith--tabs=0will override it and let tabs be consumed by the pager.

Dark mode

If you make use of the dark mode feature in macOS, you might want to configurebatto use a different theme based on the OS theme. The following snippet uses thedefaulttheme when in thedark mode and theGitHubtheme when in thelight mode.

aliascat="bat --theme=\$(defaults read -globalDomain AppleInterfaceStyle &> /dev/null && echo default || echo GitHub)"

Configuration file

batcan also be customized with a configuration file. The location of the file is dependent on your operating system. To get the default path for your system, call

bat --config-file

Alternatively, you can use theBAT_CONFIG_PATHenvironment variable to pointbatto a non-default location of the configuration file:

exportBAT_CONFIG_PATH="/path/to/bat.conf"

A default configuration file can be created with the--generate-config-fileoption.

bat --generate-config-file

There is also now a systemwide configuration file, which is located under/etc/bat/configon Linux and Mac OS andC:\ProgramData\bat\configon windows. If the system wide configuration file is present, the content of the user configuration will simply be appended to it.

Format

The configuration file is a simple list of command line arguments. Usebat --helpto see a full list of possible options and values. In addition, you can add comments by prepending a line with the#character.

Example configuration file:

#Set the theme to "TwoDark"
--theme="TwoDark"

#Show line numbers, Git modifications and file header (but no grid)
--style="numbers,changes,header"

#Use italic text on the terminal (not supported on all terminals)
--italic-text=always

#Use C++ syntax for Arduino.ino files
--map-syntax"*.ino:C++"

Usingbaton Windows

batmostly works out-of-the-box on Windows, but a few features may need extra configuration.

Prerequisites

You will need to install theVisual C++ Redistributablepackage.

Paging

Windows only includes a very limited pager in the form ofmore.You can download a Windows binary forlessfrom its homepageorthrough Chocolatey.To use it, place the binary in a directory in yourPATHordefine an environment variable.TheChocolatey packageinstallslessautomatically.

Colors

Windows 10 natively supports colors in bothconhost.exe(Command Prompt) and PowerShell since v1511,as well as in newer versions of bash. On earlier versions of Windows, you can use Cmder,which includesConEmu.

Note:Old versions oflessdo not correctly interpret colors on Windows. To fix this, you can add the optional Unix tools to your PATH when installing Git. If you don’t have any other pagers installed, you can disable paging entirely by passing--paging=neveror by settingBAT_PAGERto an empty string.

Cygwin

baton Windows does not natively support Cygwin's unix-style paths (/cygdrive/*). When passed an absolute cygwin path as an argument,batwill encounter the following error:The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3)

This can be solved by creating a wrapper or adding the following function to your.bash_profilefile:

bat() {
localindex
localargs=("$@")
forindexin$(seq 0${#args[@]});do
case"${args[index]}"in
-*)continue;;
*) [-e"${args[index]}"]&&args[index]="$(cygpath --windows"${args[index]}")";;
esac
done
commandbat"${args[@]}"
}

Troubleshooting

Garbled output

If an input file contains color codes or other ANSI escape sequences or control characters,batwill have problems performing syntax highlighting and text wrapping, and thus the output can become garbled.

If your version ofbatsupports the--strip-ansi=autooption, it can be used to remove such sequences before syntax highlighting. Alternatively, you may disable both syntax highlighting and wrapping by passing the--color=never --wrap=neveroptions tobat.

Note

Theautooption of--strip-ansiavoids removing escape sequences when the syntax is plain text.

Terminals & colors

bathandles terminalswithandwithouttruecolor support. However, the colors in most syntax highlighting themes are not optimized for 8-bit colors. It is therefore strongly recommended that you use a terminal with 24-bit truecolor support (terminator,konsole,iTerm2,...), or use one of the basic8-bit themesdesigned for a restricted set of colors. Seethis articlefor more details and a full list of terminals with truecolor support.

Make sure that your truecolor terminal sets theCOLORTERMvariable to eithertruecoloror 24bit.Otherwise,batwill not be able to determine whether or not 24-bit escape sequences are supported (and fall back to 8-bit colors).

Line numbers and grid are hardly visible

Please try a different theme (seebat --list-themesfor a list). TheOneHalfDarkand OneHalfLightthemes provide grid and line colors that are brighter.

File encodings

batnatively supports UTF-8 as well as UTF-16. For every other file encoding, you may need to convert to UTF-8 first because the encodings can typically not be auto-detected. You caniconv to do so. Example: if you have a PHP file in Latin-1 (ISO-8859-1) encoding, you can call:

iconv -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8 my-file.php|bat

Note: you might have to use the-l/--languageoption if the syntax can not be auto-detected bybat.

Development

#Recursive clone to retrieve all submodules
git clone --recursive https://github /sharkdp/bat

#Build (debug version)
cdbat
cargo build --bins

#Run unit tests and integration tests
cargotest

#Install (release version)
cargo install --path.--locked

#Build a bat binary with modified syntaxes and themes
bash assets/create.sh
cargo install --path.--locked --force

If you want to build an application that usesbats pretty-printing features as a library, check out thethe API documentation. Note that you have to use eitherregex-onigorregex-fancyas a feature when you depend onbatas a library.

Contributing

Take a look at theCONTRIBUTING.mdguide.

Maintainers

• sharkdp
• eth-p
• keith-hall
• Enselic

Security vulnerabilities

Please contactDavid Petervia email if you want to report a vulnerability inbat.

Project goals and alternatives

battries to achieve the following goals:

• Provide beautiful, advanced syntax highlighting
• Integrate with Git to show file modifications
• Be a drop-in replacement for (POSIX)cat
• Offer a user-friendly command-line interface

There are a lot of alternatives, if you are looking for similar programs. See this documentfor a comparison.

License

Copyright (c) 2018-2023bat-developers.

batis made available under the terms of either the MIT License or the Apache License 2.0, at your option.

See theLICENSE-APACHEandLICENSE-MITfiles for license details.