bzcat
TLDR
View compressed file
$ bzcat [file.txt.bz2]
View multiple files$ bzcat [file1.bz2] [file2.bz2]
Pipe to less$ bzcat [file.txt.bz2] | less
SYNOPSIS
bzcat [file...]
DESCRIPTION
bzcat decompresses bzip2 files to standard output without modifying the original compressed file. It's equivalent to `bzip2 -dc` and useful for viewing or piping compressed content.
The tool allows working with compressed files without extracting them to disk.
WORKFLOW
$ # View compressed file
bzcat log.txt.bz2
# View with pager
bzcat log.txt.bz2 | less
# Search in compressed file
bzcat log.txt.bz2 | grep "error"
# Concatenate compressed files
bzcat file1.bz2 file2.bz2 > combined.txt
# Count lines in compressed file
bzcat data.txt.bz2 | wc -l
bzcat log.txt.bz2
# View with pager
bzcat log.txt.bz2 | less
# Search in compressed file
bzcat log.txt.bz2 | grep "error"
# Concatenate compressed files
bzcat file1.bz2 file2.bz2 > combined.txt
# Count lines in compressed file
bzcat data.txt.bz2 | wc -l
FEATURES
- Preserves original compressed file
- Streams output (low memory)
- Supports multiple files
- Pipeline-friendly
CAVEATS
Output is always to stdout. No options for compression level. For viewing only, consider bzless. Cannot handle corrupted files.
HISTORY
bzcat has been part of the bzip2 suite since its creation in 1996.
