ncat - network aware cat


SYNOPSIS

       ncat -V | -h
       ncat  [ -c | -n | -v | -o stream | -b size ]...	stream...


DESCRIPTION

       ncat concatenates data streams similar  to  cat(1)  except
       the streams can be files or TCP connections. If no streams
       are given on the command line ncat will default to reading
       from standard input and writing to standard output.

       There are several different forms for specifying a stream:

       filename or filename:
	      Any filename containing a colon needs to be escaped
	      by  adding a colon on the end, otherwise it will be
	      interpreted as a tcp stream. A special filename "-"
	      can be used to specify standard input or output.

       host:port
	      Connect to host/port.  This will fail if the remote
	      side is not ready for the connection.

       :port  Wait for a connection  on  port.	 This  can  block
	      indefinitely.  If  port is 0 (or omitted) ncat will
	      bind to a free port and display the  port  used  on
	      standard error.


OPTIONS

   -o, --output
       Output to stream instead of standard output.

   -b, --block-size
       Use  a  different  block size for reading and writing. The
       default is 512 bytes.  size  can  be  given  a  suffix  to
       denote  a multiplier: b for 512 , k for 1024, m for 1024k.

   -v, --verbose
       Show data transfer statistics.

   -n, --no-delay
       Disable buffering and merging small tcp packets. This  can
       reduce latency in some situations.

   -c, --cork
       Prevent	TCP  from sending partial packets across the net-
       work until the connections is closed. This breaks compati-
       bility with cat by not passing data on immediately, but it
       may improve performance depending  on  your  requirements.
       Linux 2.2+ is required to use this option.

   -V, --version
       Display version and exit.

   -h, --help
       Display usage information and exit.


EXIT STATUS

       0      Success

       1      One  or  more  errors occured reading data and ncat
	      continued onto the next stream.

       255    A fatal error occured writing data.


BUGS

       Some rarely used options found in cat(1) are missing  from
       ncat.   These  options  can  be	recreated easily by using
       another filter such as perl(1), awk(1), sed(1), or  tr(1).


AUTHOR

       Mark Pulford <mark-at-kyne-dot-com-dot-au>


SEE ALSO

       cat(1), nc(1).

       http://www.kyne.com.au/~mark/software/ncat.php

       Man(1) output converted with man2html