rcat

View documentation for the original command

$ tldr rc

Given that rcat is a non-standard command, a definitive synopsis is impossible. If it implies 'reverse cat', it would likely follow the syntax of the standard tac command:

tac [OPTION]... [FILE]...

-b, --before
    Attach the separator before instead of after the record. (Refers to tac's functionality)

-r, --regex
    Interpret the separator as a regular expression. (Refers to tac's functionality)

-s, --separator=STRING
    Use STRING as the record separator instead of newline. (Refers to tac's functionality)

--help
    Display a help message and exit. (Common for GNU utilities like tac)

--version
    Output version information and exit. (Common for GNU utilities like tac)

The command rcat is not a standard Linux command found in typical Linux distributions. Unlike ubiquitous utilities such as cat (which concatenates files and prints them to standard output) or tac (which prints files in reverse line order), rcat does not exist as a default system binary. Its appearance typically indicates either a common typographical error for cat, or it refers to a custom alias, shell function, or script configured on a specific system. Such a custom command might be designed to perform a 'reverse cat' operation (similar to tac), or perhaps a specialized remote file concatenation, although the latter is less common. This analysis, therefore, focuses on the most probable interpretations of 'rcat' while consistently highlighting its non-standard nature, providing information based on the functionalities it might imply, particularly the 'reverse cat' concept.

rcat is not a standard Linux command included in typical distributions or GNU Core Utilities. Its existence or functionality, if encountered on a specific system, is entirely dependent on a custom installation, user-defined script, or shell alias. Users attempting to use 'rcat' should first verify if it's an alias or a custom binary configured on their system. The behavior described in this analysis is speculative, primarily drawing parallels with the standard tac command, which performs a 'reverse cat' operation.

It is crucial to understand that rcat is not a part of standard GNU Core Utilities or common Linux distributions. If you encounter 'rcat' in a script, documentation, or on a specific system, it almost certainly refers to:
1. A simple typo for the ubiquitous cat command.
2. A custom alias, shell function, or script on that specific system designed to perform a particular task (e.g., internally using tac, or a specialized remote file operation).

When rcat appears, it commonly leads to two main interpretations due to the 'r' prefix:
1. 'Reverse Cat': This is the most common conceptual interpretation, referring to the functionality of the standard tac command, which prints file content line by line starting from the last line.
2. 'Remote Cat': Less frequently, the 'r' prefix in Unix commands often denotes 'remote' (e.g., rcp for remote copy, rsh for remote shell). In this context, 'rcat' might imply a custom command to 'cat' a file from a remote machine, though this is purely speculative and depends entirely on a bespoke implementation.

Since rcat is not a standard command, it has no official development history. However, the concept of reading files in reverse (which 'rcat' might imply) is embodied by the standard tac command. tac (short for 'cat' backwards) was developed as part of the GNU Core Utilities, a collection of essential tools for Unix-like operating systems. It provides a 'reverse' counterpart to the well-known cat command, which concatenates and displays files from beginning to end. tac's primary use case involves processing log files or other sequential data in reverse chronological order, often used in conjunction with other text processing utilities.

cat(1), tac(1), more(1), less(1), grep(1)