sharkdp/bat
★ 60,846 stars
Covered in week 2026-W29 · the 2026-07 report
A cat(1) clone with wings.
What bat is
bat supports syntax highlighting for a large number of programming and markup languages
From the repository README · read it on GitHub →
Transcript
cat dumps raw text into your terminal — no colors, no structure, forcing you to open an editor to scan syntax. bat renders files with syntax highlighting, Git changes marked in margins, line numbers that stay aligned. JSON glows with structure. Python shows indented blocks clearly. You spot bugs faster without leaving the terminal. Nearly 60,000 stars prove developers switched for readable output. Still using cat or did you upgrade?