I recently had to use some code that was given to me, and in it the is this line
cat file -
Did someone know what the - mean.
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Charles Duffy
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Xiidref
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This is not bash-specific behavior; `cat` would behave the same way invoked with any other shell or with no shell at all. – Charles Duffy Jan 14 '20 at 18:57
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This is documented in the man page for `cat`. – chepner Jan 14 '20 at 18:57
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The - means "read from standard input" (this is a POSIX convention). Try this in your shell and you'll see cat repeat everything you type:
$> cat -
Travis Gockel
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Ever-so-slightly more nuanced: "read from standard input" in an input position, "write to standard output" in an output position. – Charles Duffy Jan 14 '20 at 18:57