zcat
zcat is a Linux command in the Archives & Compression category, rated intermediate difficulty. Displays the contents of a compressed file without decompressing it. The syntax is zcat [file.gz]. Key options and parameters: file.gz — compressed file. It returns decompressed content to stdout. A close relative is tar, which creates and extracts tar archives. The standard Unix archiving tool. A close relative is gzip, which compresses files using Lempel-Ziv coding. Produces .gz files. A close relative is gunzip, which decompresses .gz files created by gzip. More about this category: Linux archive commands — tar, gzip, zip, unzip, and more. Compress and extract files and archives. Related Archives & Compression commands: tar, gzip, gunzip, zip, unzip, xz, bunzip2, bzip2. This page is part of the free Linux Reference documentation covering 304+ commands, each with syntax, options, practical examples, and a difficulty rating.