cat on a 200-line config file dumps a monochrome wall of text. bat shows the same file with syntax highlighting, line numbers, and paging.

Install 

  brew install bat
sudo apt install bat            # the binary is called batcat
winget install sharkdp.bat
  
  alias bat=batcat                # Ubuntu

Basics 

  bat config.yaml                 # highlighting + line numbers + pager
bat -n script.sh                # line numbers only, no header
bat -p log.txt                  # plain, no decorations
bat -r 40:80 main.go            # only lines 40–80
bat -A data.txt                 # show spaces, tabs, and newlines

Combining with other commands 

  # read from a pipe and name the language
curl -s https://api.example.com/data | bat -l json

# colourise a list of changed files
git diff --name-only | xargs bat

# use it as your default pager
export PAGER="bat -p"

The most common pairing is as an fzf preview:

  export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--preview 'bat --color=always --style=numbers {}'"

Configuration 

  bat --config-file        # print the config path
  
  # ~/.config/bat/config
--theme="Monokai Extended"
--style="numbers,changes,header"
--italic-text=always

List available themes with bat --list-themes.

Pretty only for humans

When its output goes to a pipe rather than a terminal, bat automatically behaves like cat. So bat file | grep x in a script won’t inject colour codes. To force colour, add --color=always.

Next

Make directory listings readable too → eza

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Last updated 19 Aug 2026, 00:00 UTC. history