rclone/docs/content/commands/rclone_cat.md

title	description	versionIntroduced
rclone cat	Concatenates any files and sends them to stdout.	v1.33

rclone cat

Concatenates any files and sends them to stdout.

Synopsis

Sends any files to standard output.

You can use it like this to output a single file

rclone cat remote:path/to/file

Or like this to output any file in dir or its subdirectories.

rclone cat remote:path/to/dir

Or like this to output any .txt files in dir or its subdirectories.

rclone --include "*.txt" cat remote:path/to/dir

Use the --head flag to print characters only at the start, --tail for the end and --offset and --count to print a section in the middle. Note that if offset is negative it will count from the end, so --offset -1 --count 1 is equivalent to --tail 1.

Use the --separator flag to print a separator value between files. Be sure to shell-escape special characters. For example, to print a newline between files, use:

• bash:

  rclone --include "*.txt" --separator $'\n' cat remote:path/to/dir
  

• powershell:

  rclone --include "*.txt" --separator "`n" cat remote:path/to/dir
  

rclone cat remote:path [flags]

Options

      --count int          Only print N characters (default -1)
      --discard            Discard the output instead of printing
      --head int           Only print the first N characters
  -h, --help               help for cat
      --offset int         Start printing at offset N (or from end if -ve)
      --separator string   Separator to use between objects when printing multiple files
      --tail int           Only print the last N characters

Options shared with other commands are described next. See the global flags page for global options not listed here.

Filter Options

Flags for filtering directory listings

      --delete-excluded                     Delete files on dest excluded from sync
      --exclude stringArray                 Exclude files matching pattern
      --exclude-from stringArray            Read file exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --exclude-if-present stringArray      Exclude directories if filename is present
      --files-from stringArray              Read list of source-file names from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --files-from-raw stringArray          Read list of source-file names from file without any processing of lines (use - to read from stdin)
  -f, --filter stringArray                  Add a file filtering rule
      --filter-from stringArray             Read file filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin)
      --ignore-case                         Ignore case in filters (case insensitive)
      --include stringArray                 Include files matching pattern
      --include-from stringArray            Read file include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --max-age Duration                    Only transfer files younger than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off)
      --max-depth int                       If set limits the recursion depth to this (default -1)
      --max-size SizeSuffix                 Only transfer files smaller than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off)
      --metadata-exclude stringArray        Exclude metadatas matching pattern
      --metadata-exclude-from stringArray   Read metadata exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --metadata-filter stringArray         Add a metadata filtering rule
      --metadata-filter-from stringArray    Read metadata filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin)
      --metadata-include stringArray        Include metadatas matching pattern
      --metadata-include-from stringArray   Read metadata include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --min-age Duration                    Only transfer files older than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off)
      --min-size SizeSuffix                 Only transfer files bigger than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off)

Listing Options

Flags for listing directories

      --default-time Time   Time to show if modtime is unknown for files and directories (default 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z)
      --fast-list           Use recursive list if available; uses more memory but fewer transactions

See Also

• rclone - Show help for rclone commands, flags and backends.