Colorize Your Cat Output

If you’re like me and constantly displaying source files via cat, here’s a tip for making that output colorized.

First, make sure you have easy_install installed:

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curl -O http://python-distribute.org/distribute_setup.py
sudo python distribute_setup.py
sudo rm distribute_setup.py

Next, install Pygments:

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sudo easy_install Pygments

Finally, create an alias ccat (colorized cat) or something similar in your .profile or .bash.rc or .bash_profile:

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alias ccat='pygmentize -O console256 -g'

Open a new terminal window or source the file containing your alias, and now you have colorized cat output!