rclone/docs/content/commands/rclone_cat.md

---
title: "rclone cat"
description: "Concatenates any files and sends them to stdout."
slug: rclone_cat
url: /commands/rclone_cat/
groups: Filter,Listing
versionIntroduced: v1.33
# autogenerated - DO NOT EDIT, instead edit the source code in cmd/cat/ and as part of making a release run "make commanddocs"
---
# rclone cat

Concatenates any files and sends them to stdout.

## Synopsis


rclone cat 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
```


## 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 the [global flags page](/flags/) for global options not listed here.

# SEE ALSO

* [rclone](/commands/rclone/)	 - Show help for rclone commands, flags and backends.