viewing-files

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Enhanced cat clone with syntax highlighting, Git integration, and automatic paging for efficient file content viewing. Use this skill when viewing source files, documentation, or when syntax highlighting would improve readability

2installs

Sourceiota9star/my-skills

Added on2026-02-08

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add iota9star/my-skills viewing-files

SKILL.md Content

View Translation Comparison →

bat: Enhanced File Viewer with Syntax Highlighting

Always invoke bat skill for enhanced file viewing - do not execute bash commands directly.

Use bat as a modern replacement for cat with beautiful syntax highlighting, Git integration, and smart features.

When to Use bat vs cat

Use bat when:

Viewing source code or structured text files
Syntax highlighting improves readability
Need Git integration or line numbers
Working with files >50 lines where highlighting helps
Previewing changes from other tools

Use cat when:

Very small files (<10 lines)
Non-text/binary files
Simple concatenation without formatting
When highlighting would add noise
Performance-critical operations on many tiny files

Common workflow: Any skill → bat skill (preview enhanced output)

Default Strategy

Invoke bat skill for enhanced file viewing with syntax highlighting. Use when viewing source files, documentation, or when syntax highlighting improves readability.

Common workflow: Any discovery skill → bat skill (preview enhanced output).

Key Options

Display Control

```
-n/--number
```
line numbers only
```
-p/--plain
```
plain output (no decorations)
```
-A/--show-all
```
show non-printable characters
```
--line-range START:END
```
view specific lines
```
--wrap never
```
disable line wrapping
```
--tabs N
```
set tab width to N spaces

Language & Themes

```
-l/--language LANG
```
force language detection
```
--list-languages
```
show supported languages
```
--list-themes
```
show available themes
```
--theme NAME
```
set color theme (default: Monokai Extended)
```
--theme-dark/--theme-light
```
auto-switch themes based on terminal
```
BAT_THEME
```
environment variable for default theme

Output Styling

```
--style COMPONENTS
```
control output (numbers,changes,header,grid,snip)
```
--decorations auto|never|always
```
control decorations
```
--color always|never|auto
```
control coloring

Paging

```
--paging auto|never|always
```
control paging behavior
```
--pager COMMAND
```
set custom pager
```
BAT_PAGER
```
environment variable

When to Use

Code Review: View source files with syntax highlighting and line numbers
Git Workflow: Check file modifications and view historical versions
Documentation: Colorize help pages and documentation
File Concatenation: Replace cat with enhanced features
Integration: Use as previewer for fzf or other tools

Core Principles

Enhanced cat: Drop-in replacement with intelligent improvements
Smart Defaults: Automatic paging when appropriate, Git integration when in repo
Syntax Highlighting: Supports 200+ languages with accurate detection
Performance Optimized: Fast loading, efficient rendering, handles large files well

Detailed Reference

For comprehensive usage patterns, integration examples, advanced features, and troubleshooting, load bat guide when needing:

Git integration workflows
Output styling and customization details
Theme configuration and options
Performance optimization tips
Shell integration examples

The guide includes:

Core usage patterns and language control
Git integration workflows
Output styling and customization
Integration with other tools (fzf, git, ripgrep)
Advanced features and configuration
Performance tips and troubleshooting

Skill Combinations

For Discovery Phase

fd → fzf → bat: Find files, select interactively, view with syntax highlighting
ripgrep → fzf → bat: Search content, select matches, view with highlighting
jq/yq → fzf → bat: Extract data, select entries, view formatted output

For Analysis Phase

analyzing-code-structure → bat: Preview structural changes with syntax highlighting
sd → bat: Preview find-and-replace results before committing
extracting-code-structure → bat: View extracted code structure with formatting

For Output Preview

tokei → bat: View code statistics with formatted output
ripgrep → bat: Preview matched files with context highlighting
jq/yq → bat: View extracted structured data with syntax formatting

Integration Examples

bash

# Interactive file viewer
fd --type file | fzf --preview="bat --color=always --style=numbers {}" --bind="enter:execute(bat {})"