A cat(1) clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.
A cat(1) clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.
Key Features • How To Use • Installation • Customization • Project goals, alternatives • Translation [中文][日本文]
### Syntax highlighting `bat` supports syntax highlighting for a large number of programming and markup languages:  ### Git integration `bat` communicates with `git` to show modifications with respect to the index (see left side bar):  ### Show non-printable characters You can use the `-A`/`--show-all` option to show and highlight non-printable characters:  ### Automatic paging `bat` can pipe its own output to `less` if the output is too large for one screen. ### File concatenation Oh.. you can also use it to concatenate files :wink:. Whenever `bat` detects a non-interactive terminal (i.e. when you pipe into another process or into a file), `bat` will act as a drop-in replacement for `cat` and fall back to printing the plain file contents. ## How to use Display a single file on the terminal ```bash > bat README.md ``` Display multiple files at once ```bash > bat src/*.rs ``` Read from stdin, determine the syntax automatically ```bash > curl -s https://sh.rustup.rs | bat ``` Read from stdin, specify the language explicitly ```bash > yaml2json .travis.yml | json_pp | bat -l json ``` Show and highlight non-printable characters: ```bash > bat -A /etc/hosts ``` Use it as a `cat` replacement: ```bash 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 #### `find` or `fd` You can use the `-exec` option of `find` to preview all search results with `bat`: ```bash find … -exec bat {} + ``` If you happen to use [`fd`](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd), you can use the `-X`/`--exec-batch` option to do the same: ```bash fd … -X bat ``` #### `tail -f` `bat` can be combined with `tail -f` to continuously monitor a given file with syntax highlighting. ```bash 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 show` You can combine `bat` with `git show` to view an older version of a given file with proper syntax highlighting: ```bash git show v0.6.0:src/main.rs | bat -l rs ``` #### `xclip` The line numbers and Git modification markers in the output of `bat` can make it hard to copy the contents of a file. To prevent this, you can call `bat` with the `-p`/`--plain` option or simply pipe the output into `xclip`: ```bash bat main.cpp | xclip ``` `bat` will detect that the output is being redirected and print the plain file contents. ## Installation ### On Ubuntu *... and other Debian-based Linux distributions.* Download the latest `.deb` package from the [release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases) and install it via: ``` bash sudo dpkg -i bat_0.11.0_amd64.deb # adapt version number and architecture ``` ### On Alpine Linux You can install [the `bat` package](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages?name=bat) from the official sources, provided you have the appropriate repository enabled: ```bash apk add bat ``` ### On Arch Linux You can install [the `bat` package](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/bat/) from the official sources: ```bash pacman -S bat ``` ### On Fedora You 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. ```bash dnf install bat ``` ### On Gentoo Linux You can install [the `bat` package](https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/sys-apps/bat) from the official sources: ```bash emerge sys-apps/bat ``` ### On Void Linux You can install `bat` via xbps-install: ``` xbps-install -S bat ``` ### On FreeBSD You can install a precompiled [`bat` package](https://www.freshports.org/textproc/bat) with pkg: ```bash pkg install bat ``` or build it on your own from the FreeBSD ports: ```bash cd /usr/ports/textproc/bat make install ``` ### Via nix You can install `bat` using the [nix package manager](https://nixos.org/nix): ```bash nix-env -i bat ``` ### On openSUSE You can install `bat` with zypper: ``` zypper install bat ``` ### On macOS You can install `bat` with [Homebrew](http://braumeister.org/formula/bat): ```bash brew install bat ``` ### On Windows You can download prebuilt binaries from the [Release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases), or install it with [scoop](https://scoop.sh/) or [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org): ```bash scoop install bat ``` ```bash choco install bat ``` [See below](#using-bat-on-windows) for notes. ### Via Docker There is a [Docker image](https://hub.docker.com/r/danlynn/bat/) that you can use to run `bat` in a container: ```bash docker pull danlynn/bat alias bat='docker run -it --rm -e BAT_THEME -e BAT_STYLE -e BAT_TABS -v "$(pwd):/myapp" danlynn/bat' ``` ### Via Ansible You can install `bat` with [Ansible](https://www.ansible.com/): ```bash # Install role on local machine ansible-galaxy install aeimer.install_bat ``` ```yaml --- # Playbook to install bat - host: all roles: - aeimer.install_bat ``` - [Ansible Galaxy](https://galaxy.ansible.com/aeimer/install_bat) - [GitHub](https://github.com/aeimer/ansible-install-bat) This should work with the following distributions: - Debian/Ubuntu - ARM (eg. Raspberry PI) - Arch Linux - Void Linux - FreeBSD - MacOS ### From binaries Check out the [Release page](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases) for prebuilt versions of `bat` for many different architectures. Statically-linked binaries are also available: look for archives with `musl` in the file name. ### From source If you want to build `bat` from source, you need Rust 1.31 or higher. You can then use `cargo` to build everything: ```bash cargo install bat ``` You may have to install `cmake` and the `libz` development package (`libz-dev` or `libz-devel`) in order for the build to succeed. ## Customization ### Highlighting theme Use `bat --list-themes` to get a list of all available themes for syntax highlighting. To select the `TwoDark` theme, call `bat` with the `--theme=TwoDark` option or set the `BAT_THEME` environment variable to `TwoDark`. Use `export BAT_THEME="TwoDark"` in your shell's startup file to make the change permanent. Alternatively, use `bat`s [configuration file](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat#configuration-file). If you want to preview the different themes on a custom file, you can use the following command (you need [`fzf`](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf) for this): ``` bash bat --list-themes | fzf --preview="bat --theme={} --color=always /path/to/file" ``` `bat` looks good on a dark background by default. However, if your terminal uses a light background, some themes like `GitHub` or `OneHalfLight` will work better for you. You can also use a custom theme by following the ['Adding new themes' section below](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat#adding-new-themes). ### Output style You can use the `--style` option to control the appearance of `bat`s 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 the `BAT_STYLE` environment variable to make these changes permanent or use `bat`s [configuration file](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat#configuration-file). ### Adding new syntaxes / language definitions `bat` uses the excellent [`syntect`](https://github.com/trishume/syntect/) library for syntax highlighting. `syntect` can read any [Sublime Text `.sublime-syntax` file](https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/syntax.html) and theme. To add new syntax definitions, do the following. Create a folder with syntax definition files: ```bash mkdir -p "$(bat --config-dir)/syntaxes" cd "$(bat --config-dir)/syntaxes" # Put new '.sublime-syntax' language definition files # in this folder (or its subdirectories), for example: git clone https://github.com/tellnobody1/sublime-purescript-syntax ``` Now use the following command to parse these files into a binary cache: ```bash bat cache --build ``` Finally, use `bat --list-languages` to check if the new languages are available. If you ever want to go back to the default settings, call: ```bash bat cache --clear ``` ### Adding new themes This works very similar to how we add new syntax definitions. First, create a folder with the new syntax highlighting themes: ```bash mkdir -p "$(bat --config-dir)/themes" cd "$(bat --config-dir)/themes" # Download a theme in '.tmTheme' format, for example: git clone https://github.com/greggb/sublime-snazzy # Update the binary cache bat cache --build ``` Finally, use `bat --list-themes` to check if the new themes are available. ### Using a different pager `bat` uses the pager that is specified in the `PAGER` environment variable. If this variable is not set, `less` is used by default. If you want to use a different pager, you can either modify the `PAGER` variable or set the `BAT_PAGER` environment variable to override what is specified in `PAGER`. If you want to pass command-line arguments to the pager, you can also set them via the `PAGER`/`BAT_PAGER` variables: ```bash export BAT_PAGER="less -RF" ``` Instead 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). **Note**: By default, if the pager is set to `less` (and no command-line options are specified), `bat` will pass the following command line options to the pager: `-R`/`--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS`, `-F`/`--quit-if-one-screen` and `-X`/`--no-init`. The first (`-R`) is needed to interpret ANSI colors correctly. The second option (`-F`) instructs less to 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 press `q` to quit the pager. The third option (`-X`) is needed to fix a bug with the `--quit-if-one-screen` feature in old versions of `less`. Unfortunately, it also breaks mouse-wheel support in `less`. If you want to enable mouse-wheel scrolling, you can either pass just `-R` (as in the example above, this will disable the quit-if-one-screen feature), or you can use a recent version of `less` and pass `-RF` which will hopefully enable both quit-if-one-screen and mouse-wheel scrolling. If scrolling still doesn't work for you, you can try to pass the `-S` option in addition. ## Configuration file `bat` can 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 the `BAT_CONFIG_PATH` environment variable to point `bat` to a non-default location of the configuration file: ```bash export BAT_CONFIG_PATH="/path/to/bat.conf" ``` ### Format The 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. Example configuration file: ```bash # 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 # Add mouse scrolling support in less (does not work with older # versions of "less") --pager="less -FR" # Use C++ syntax (instead of C) for .h header files --map-syntax h:cpp # Use "gitignore" highlighting for ".ignore" files --map-syntax .ignore:.gitignore ``` ## Using `bat` on Windows `bat` mostly works out-of-the-box on Windows, but a few features may need extra configuration. ### Paging Windows only includes a very limited pager in the form of `more`. You can download a Windows binary for `less` [from its homepage](http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/download.html) or [through Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org/packages/Less). To use it, place the binary in a directory in your `PATH` or [define an environment variable](#using-a-different-pager). The [Chocolatey package](#on-windows) installs `less` automatically. ### Colors Windows 10 natively supports colors in both `conhost.exe` (Command Prompt) and PowerShell since [v1511](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10_version_history#Version_1511_(November_Update)), as well as in newer versions of bash. On earlier versions of Windows, you can use [Cmder](http://cmder.net/), which includes [ConEmu](https://conemu.github.io/). **Note:** The Git and MSYS versions of `less` do not correctly interpret colors on Windows. If you don’t have any other pagers installed, you can disable paging entirely by passing `--paging=never` or by setting `BAT_PAGER` to an empty string. ### Cygwin `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)` This can be solved by creating a wrapper or adding the following function to your `.bash_profile` file: ```shell bat() { local index local args=("$@") for index in $(seq 0 ${#args[@]}) ; do case "${args[index]}" in -*) continue;; *) [ -e "${args[index]}" ] && args[index]="$(cygpath --windows "${args[index]}")";; esac done command bat "${args[@]}" } ``` ## Troubleshooting ### Terminals & colors `bat` handles terminals *with* and *without* truecolor support. However, the colors in the syntax highlighting themes are not optimized for 8-bit colors and it is therefore strongly recommended that you use a terminal with 24-bit truecolor support (`terminator`, `konsole`, `iTerm2`, ...). See [this article](https://gist.github.com/XVilka/8346728) for more details and a full list of terminals with truecolor support. Make sure that your truecolor terminal sets the `COLORTERM` variable to either `truecolor` or `24bit`. Otherwise, `bat` will 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 (see `bat --list-themes` for a list). The `OneHalfDark` and `OneHalfLight` themes provide grid and line colors that are brighter. ## Development ```bash # Recursive clone to retrieve all submodules git clone --recursive https://github.com/sharkdp/bat # Build (debug version) cd bat cargo build # Run unit tests and integration tests cargo test # Install (release version) cargo install # Build a bat binary with modified syntaxes and themes bash assets/create.sh cargo install -f ``` ## Project goals and alternatives `bat` tries 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 document](doc/alternatives.md) for a comparison.