zcat -- Command

Concatenate a compressed file
zcat [ file[.Z|.gz] ... ]

zcat uncompresses  each file  ``on the  fly,'' and prints  the uncompressed
text onto the standard output.  Each  file must have been compressed by the
command compress  and have the suffix  .Z, or by the  command gzip and have
the suffix .gz.

If the command  line names no file, zcat uncompresses  matter read from the
standard input.

Example

zcat is  useful for extracting selected items from  archives; it spares you
the overhead of having to uncompress  the entire archive just to get at one
or two  files.  For example, to extract myfile  from the compressed archive
backup.tar.Z, use the following command line:

    zcat backup.tar.Z | tar xvf - myfile

See Also

commands,
compress,
gzip,
ram,
uncompress

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness