{"slug": "bat", "name": "bat", "category": "terminal", "category_name": "Terminal and shell", "description": "A cat clone for the terminal with syntax highlighting and Git integration.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 6, "warners": 0, "score": 5.188, "rising": -1.96, "first": "2026-02-04", "latest": "2026-04-09", "why": "HN commenters recommend it as a cat replacement with colored syntax highlighting and an automatic pager.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Syntax highlighting", "Automatic pager"], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "another thing I use a lot is bat, which is cat with syntax highlighting and an automatic pager.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/sharkdp/bat", "official_url": "https://github.com/sharkdp/bat", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["bat", "The Bat!", "The Bat"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters recommend it as a cat replacement with colored syntax highlighting", "cites": [{"id": 761703745, "item_id": 47606484, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606484", "by": "Zizizizz", "date": "2026-04-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "nice coloured cat replacement", "excerpt": "https://github.com/atuinsh/atuin for fuzzy shell history (ctrl+r) https://github.com/sharkdp/bat (nice coloured cat replacement) https://github.com/abiosoft/colima (so I don't need docker desktop) https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb (performant database that lets you directly query JSON, parquet, csv files with SQL queries and convert one to the other. https://github.com/eradman/entr (rerun commands automatically when p", "context": "", "use_case": "syntax-highlighted file viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?"}, {"id": 757984513, "item_id": 47374032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47374032", "by": "szopa", "date": "2026-03-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "another thing I use a lot is bat, which is cat with syntax highlighting and an automatic pager.", "excerpt": "I have been a die hard emacs user for 20 years, and I have a very nice emacs setup (if a little bit idiosyncratic, but all emacs configs are idiosyncratic). However, recently I realized that I read code, but almost never write it. What is more, I spend a lot of time doing it in tmux, over mosh, from my phone. Emacs ergonomy is just not great if all you have is a horrible phone keyboard (and no swiping, because tmux r", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI"}, {"id": 753904608, "item_id": 47119038, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47119038", "by": "linesofcode", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Give this a shot https://github.com/sharkdp/bat", "excerpt": "Give this a shot https://github.com/sharkdp/bat But in all seriousness I\u2019m interested in knowing the answer to this too, just out of sheer curiosity.", "context": "", "use_case": "file viewing (cat replacement)", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you ever cloned a cat?"}]}, {"text": " and an automatic pager.", "cites": [{"id": 757984513, "item_id": 47374032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47374032", "by": "szopa", "date": "2026-03-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "another thing I use a lot is bat, which is cat with syntax highlighting and an automatic pager.", "excerpt": "I have been a die hard emacs user for 20 years, and I have a very nice emacs setup (if a little bit idiosyncratic, but all emacs configs are idiosyncratic). However, recently I realized that I read code, but almost never write it. What is more, I spend a lot of time doing it in tmux, over mosh, from my phone. Emacs ergonomy is just not great if all you have is a horrible phone keyboard (and no swiping, because tmux r", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI"}]}, {"text": " No complaints were raised; it suits terminal users building a toolkit of dependable command-line tools.", "cites": [{"id": 762034130, "item_id": 47627133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47627133", "by": "Hackbraten", "date": "2026-04-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Completely boring technology: aurutils, bash (with bash-it), bat, cp, git, grep, head, man, mv, pacman, rm, rsync, ssh, sudo, tmux, tree, vim.", "excerpt": "Completely boring technology: aurutils, bash (with bash-it), bat, cp, git, grep, head, man, mv, pacman, rm, rsync, ssh, sudo, tmux, tree, vim.", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which CLI tools do you use daily?"}, {"id": 757984513, "item_id": 47374032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47374032", "by": "szopa", "date": "2026-03-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "another thing I use a lot is bat, which is cat with syntax highlighting and an automatic pager.", "excerpt": "I have been a die hard emacs user for 20 years, and I have a very nice emacs setup (if a little bit idiosyncratic, but all emacs configs are idiosyncratic). However, recently I realized that I read code, but almost never write it. What is more, I spend a lot of time doing it in tmux, over mosh, from my phone. Emacs ergonomy is just not great if all you have is a horrible phone keyboard (and no swiping, because tmux r", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Syntax highlighting", "summary": "Commenters like it as a cat replacement with colored, syntax-highlighted output.", "quotes": [{"id": 761703745, "item_id": 47606484, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606484", "by": "Zizizizz", "date": "2026-04-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "nice coloured cat replacement", "excerpt": "https://github.com/atuinsh/atuin for fuzzy shell history (ctrl+r) https://github.com/sharkdp/bat (nice coloured cat replacement) https://github.com/abiosoft/colima (so I don't need docker desktop) https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb (performant database that lets you directly query JSON, parquet, csv files with SQL queries and convert one to the other. https://github.com/eradman/entr (rerun commands automatically when p", "context": "", "use_case": "syntax-highlighted file viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?"}, {"id": 757984513, "item_id": 47374032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47374032", "by": "szopa", "date": "2026-03-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "another thing I use a lot is bat, which is cat with syntax highlighting and an automatic pager.", "excerpt": "I have been a die hard emacs user for 20 years, and I have a very nice emacs setup (if a little bit idiosyncratic, but all emacs configs are idiosyncratic). However, recently I realized that I read code, but almost never write it. What is more, I spend a lot of time doing it in tmux, over mosh, from my phone. Emacs ergonomy is just not great if all you have is a horrible phone keyboard (and no swiping, because tmux r", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI"}]}, {"label": "Automatic pager", "summary": "It pages long output automatically.", "quotes": [{"id": 757984513, "item_id": 47374032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47374032", "by": "szopa", "date": "2026-03-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "another thing I use a lot is bat, which is cat with syntax highlighting and an automatic pager.", "excerpt": "I have been a die hard emacs user for 20 years, and I have a very nice emacs setup (if a little bit idiosyncratic, but all emacs configs are idiosyncratic). However, recently I realized that I read code, but almost never write it. What is more, I spend a lot of time doing it in tmux, over mosh, from my phone. Emacs ergonomy is just not great if all you have is a horrible phone keyboard (and no swiping, because tmux r", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI"}]}, {"label": "Boring reliability", "summary": "One commenter lists it among their 'completely boring technology' daily tools.", "quotes": [{"id": 762034130, "item_id": 47627133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47627133", "by": "Hackbraten", "date": "2026-04-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Completely boring technology: aurutils, bash (with bash-it), bat, cp, git, grep, head, man, mv, pacman, rm, rsync, ssh, sudo, tmux, tree, vim.", "excerpt": "Completely boring technology: aurutils, bash (with bash-it), bat, cp, git, grep, head, man, mv, pacman, rm, rsync, ssh, sudo, tmux, tree, vim.", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which CLI tools do you use daily?"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "eu", "context": "former Windows user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47701933", "date": "2026-04-09"}, {"by": "UomoNeroNero", "context": "multi-monitor desktop user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46888097", "date": "2026-02-04"}], "tags": ["cat replacement", "for terminal users"], "use_cases": ["viewing files", "email client on windows", "syntax-highlighted file viewing", "file viewing (cat replacement)", "email client"], "compared": [{"slug": "tmux", "name": "tmux", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "vim", "name": "Vim", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47700388", "title": "Help Keep Thunderbird Alive", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626747", "title": "Ask HN: Which CLI tools do you use daily?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47602040", "title": "Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47319071", "title": "Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47118774", "title": "Ask HN: Have you ever cloned a cat?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46882184", "title": "Microsoft Has Killed Widgets Six Times. Here's Why They Keep Coming Back", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 763230928, "item_id": 47701933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47701933", "by": "eu", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "when i used windows i was happy with The Bat email client", "excerpt": "when i used windows i was happy with The Bat email client: https://www.ritlabs.com/en/products/thebat/download.php", "context": "former Windows user", "use_case": "email client on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Help Keep Thunderbird Alive"}, {"id": 762034130, "item_id": 47627133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47627133", "by": "Hackbraten", "date": "2026-04-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Completely boring technology: aurutils, bash (with bash-it), bat, cp, git, grep, head, man, mv, pacman, rm, rsync, ssh, sudo, tmux, tree, vim.", "excerpt": "Completely boring technology: aurutils, bash (with bash-it), bat, cp, git, grep, head, man, mv, pacman, rm, rsync, ssh, sudo, tmux, tree, vim.", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which CLI tools do you use daily?"}, {"id": 761703745, "item_id": 47606484, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606484", "by": "Zizizizz", "date": "2026-04-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "nice coloured cat replacement", "excerpt": "https://github.com/atuinsh/atuin for fuzzy shell history (ctrl+r) https://github.com/sharkdp/bat (nice coloured cat replacement) https://github.com/abiosoft/colima (so I don't need docker desktop) https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb (performant database that lets you directly query JSON, parquet, csv files with SQL queries and convert one to the other. https://github.com/eradman/entr (rerun commands automatically when p", "context": "", "use_case": "syntax-highlighted file viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?"}, {"id": 757984513, "item_id": 47374032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47374032", "by": "szopa", "date": "2026-03-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "another thing I use a lot is bat, which is cat with syntax highlighting and an automatic pager.", "excerpt": "I have been a die hard emacs user for 20 years, and I have a very nice emacs setup (if a little bit idiosyncratic, but all emacs configs are idiosyncratic). However, recently I realized that I read code, but almost never write it. What is more, I spend a lot of time doing it in tmux, over mosh, from my phone. Emacs ergonomy is just not great if all you have is a horrible phone keyboard (and no swiping, because tmux r", "context": "", "use_case": "viewing files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI"}, {"id": 753904608, "item_id": 47119038, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47119038", "by": "linesofcode", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Give this a shot https://github.com/sharkdp/bat", "excerpt": "Give this a shot https://github.com/sharkdp/bat But in all seriousness I\u2019m interested in knowing the answer to this too, just out of sheer curiosity.", "context": "", "use_case": "file viewing (cat replacement)", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Have you ever cloned a cat?"}, {"id": 750209553, "item_id": 46888097, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46888097", "by": "UomoNeroNero", "date": "2026-02-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I think it\u2019s interesting to reconsider the idea of having floating widgets in an era of powerful CPUs/GPUs and multi-monitor setups. Personally, I love having my \u201cwidgets\u201d active on the third monitor (the one I dedicate to \u201cfrivolous stuff\u201d when I\u2019m not drowning in open windows). I always keep two \u201cold-school\u201d draggable widgets active: a \"macro keyboard shortcut remider\" and a \u201cdiabetes monitoring dashboard\u201d (unfortu", "context": "multi-monitor desktop user", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Has Killed Widgets Six Times. Here's Why They Keep Coming Back"}]}