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# lat
> lat | lazy cat - a cat clone with some quality-of-life embellishments
## About
`lat` is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. It's the awkward middle child in-between `cat` and `bat`. It was created because the author didn't want to have to configure `bat` just to get decent file printing, but wanted a little more control than `cat` offered.
`lat` does not expect to be used. `lat` expects to be forgotten and shunted into a corner because it does not belong in the slightest.
`lat` is fast. Here are the hyperfine results comparing `cat`, `lat`, and `bat` on a ~24MB text file:
```test
❯ hyperfine "cat log.log" "lat log.log" "bat log.log" -N --warmup 200
Benchmark 1: cat log.log
Time (mean ± σ): 3.6 ms ± 0.3 ms [User: 0.4 ms, System: 2.3 ms]
Range (min … max): 3.1 ms … 5.0 ms 851 runs
Benchmark 2: lat log.log
Time (mean ± σ): 6.2 ms ± 0.7 ms [User: 0.4 ms, System: 4.2 ms]
Range (min … max): 5.5 ms … 14.5 ms 496 runs
Warning: Statistical outliers were detected. Consider re-running this benchmark on a quiet system without any interferences from other programs. It might help to use the '--warmup' or '--prepare' options.
Benchmark 3: bat log.log
Time (mean ± σ): 103.9 ms ± 0.5 ms [User: 37.5 ms, System: 65.6 ms]
Range (min … max): 103.2 ms … 104.8 ms 28 runs
Summary
'cat log.log' ran
1.74 ± 0.26 times faster than 'lat log.log'
29.10 ± 2.85 times faster than 'bat log.log'
```
> tested on a 2020 M1 MacBook Pro 16GB
as you can see, the extra features do take their toll on performance, but overall, `lat` is generally nearly on-par with `cat`, and *far* faster than `bat`.
## Use
`lat` can, for the most part, be a direct drop in for `cat`, however it really shines when embedded into another program. For example, in `fzf` `lat` makes an excellent viewer with the command `fzf --command lat -l {}`.
Soon, I plan to add the ability to live-write to `lat`. That means that `lat` can become yet another output stream.
For example, this should be possible in a future version of `lat`
```c
int main(void) {
FILE *st = popen("lat -l", "w");
if (st == NULL)
exit(1);
fprintf(st, "look ma, i'm formatted!")
pclose(st);
}
```
### Features and Flags
#### `--color`
Completely disables or enables all colored output from `lat`.
##### Example
> `lat` also respects [NO_COLOR](https://no-color.org/), but `--color` overrides it
#### `--lines`
Print numbers for each line of the file.
##### Example
#### `--headers`
Shows or hides formatted file data headers.
##### Example
#### `--binary`
By default, `lat` will attempt to detect if the file is printable or not. If the file isn't (e.g. you ran `lat file.pdf`) then lat will enter *`binary mode`*. In *`binary mode`*, `lat` will skip a lot of processing in favor of speed.
You can force *`binary mode`* to be `on` or `off` with the flags `-b` and `-bb` respectively.
##### Example
#### `--literal`
`lat` is smart enough to print all non-file characters to a separate filestream. That way, the output of `lat` can be used to con**cat**enate files, the way it was originally meant to be.
However, sometimes you want those extra symbols.
`--literal` prints everything out to the primary filestream (usually `stdout`)
##### Example
#### `--pager`
`lat` comes with out-of-the-box support for paging in `less`. If you don't want your file messing up your terminal, just `-p` it.
##### Example
#### If there is a feature you'd like to see, feel free to make an issue (1x points). If you're feeling especially savvy, make a PR with the feature (10x points).
## Helptext
> `lat --help`
```text
lat | lazy cat - a cat clone with some quality-of-life embellishments
usage: lat [-cntblpVh] [file...]
options:
-c, --color toggle color
-n, --lines toggle line numbers
-t, --headers toggle file info headers
-b, --binary toggle binary mode, -b forces binary and -bb forces NOT binary
-l, --literal print everything to stdout (or equivalent)
-p, --pager print file with the pager (uses less)
-V, --version show program version
-h, --help display this help text (--help shows additional info)
environment:
NO_COLOR, see https://no-color.org/
examples:
lat file1
print the contents of file1 with the default formatting
lat - file1
read from stdin (the '-' flag reads from stdin) and then print the contents of stdin and file1
lat -nc file1 file2
print the contents of file1 and file2 without printing line numbers or colors
lat --binary file.txt
force file.txt to be treated as a binary file
lat -bb --pager file.txt
force file.txt to NOT be treated as a binary file and print it in the pager
curl example.com | lat
pipe the results of 'curl example.com' into lat
fzf --preview 'lat -l {}'
use lat as the file viewer in fzf
```
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