umber is a command-line utility designed to replace cat for reading source code and other text files in the terminal.
It focuses on making output easier to inspect during everyday shell work, whether you’re opening files directly, piping content from other commands, or sending coloured output through a pager.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Tree-sitter based syntax highlighting for more than 100 languages.
- Automatic language detection based on file extension and file content.
- Optional line numbers and Git change indicators controlled with style flags.
- Rich highlighting mode for embedded languages and language injections.
- Shows tabs, carriage returns, line feeds, and other non-printable characters while preserving syntax highlighting.
- Theme support with automatic dark/light mode detection, plus manual theme selection.
- Supports standard input and pager integration for terminal workflows.
- Provides shell completions for bash, zsh, fish, and other shells.
Website: github.com/casualjim/umber
Support:
Developer: Ivan Porto Carrero
License: MIT License
umber is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Alternatives to cat | |
|---|---|
| bat | Super charged cat - Features in our Top 100 CLI Apps |
| mdcat | Sophisticated Markdown rendering for the terminal - Features in our Top 100 TUI Apps |
| grcat | Frontend for generic colouriser grc |
| tac | Concatenate and print files in reverse |
| ccat | Colorizing cat |
| see | Cute cat replacement |
| lolcat | Add some zest to the cat command. Features in our Linux Candy series |
| kat | cat command that almost tastes like chocolate |
| meow | Renders text using your existing Neovim configuration |
| mcat | Extended cat command |
| batdoc | cat for Office documents and PDFs |
| umber | Designed to replace cat for reading source code and other text files |
| rucat | Aimed at developers and system administrators |
| peek | Multi-buffer terminal pager |
 Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category.The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.