They are referring to using cat to print out a file to the terminal. I'm not sure that's a "misuse", but personally I've never done it, using "more" or "less" instead. "bat" really is a replacement for more/less, only with additional features such as syntax highlighting in source code.
cless() {
pygmentize -O style=<style> "$1" 2>/dev/null | less
}
I have programs that depend on pygmentize so I am not sure I will use bat anytime soon when I already have pygmentize and less, or at least not for it having syntax highlighting.
Maybe, but I already had pygmentize, I already had less, and this small function took me less than 10 seconds to type in and start using immediately (and I use a particular style that pygmentize provides so that is a plus). :P In any case, thanks for sharing.
Oh, I forgot to mention that LESSPIPE is a mechanism to automatically pipe the contents of a file when opening in less, and that the linked LESSPIPE script has an option to use pigmentize for syntax highlighting.
It’s a tool for enhancing less & pygmentize, not replacing them.
Well, just providing info for everyone. I’m not trying to force you using that script :-)
