providing non-interactive mode

[jjangga0214]

Hi,

bat enters interactive mode though I didn't pipeline it to less.
I wonder if it's intended and there's an option or workaround to just print the content.

Thanks.

[sharkdp]

bat enters interactive mode though I didn't pipeline it to less.

Yes, that is the intended behavior. Interactive mode means: the output goes to an interactive terminal. That is usually the case if the output is not piped anywhere else.

If you want the plain file contents, use --plain. Or pipe the output to a file or another program.

[jjangga0214]

Thanks @sharkdp, but..

what I've tried to find is a way or an option to just print the whole file content non-interactively with styles and decorations such as line numbers, filename, and colors, which is not achieved by --plain option.

On my computer (zsh v5.7.1, kali-rolling (debian stretch)), bat -p <file> removes decorations, but still enters into interactive mode (If you meant -p prints plain content non-interractively, is this behavior a bug only shown on my(or other rare) system?).

If I pipe the output, then the file contents is just printed non-interatively. However, decorations and style are not preserved, which is not what I want.

Is there a way? If it's not just implemented, do you think it can be good to be? (for me, I feel definitely "yes")

[sharkdp]

what I've tried to find is a way or an option to just print the whole file content non-interactively with styles and decorations such as line numbers, filename, and colors, which is not achieved by --plain option.

Take a look at the --decorations and --color options. If you set both to "always", you should be able to get what you want.

[jjangga0214]

Thanks you @sharkdp!
The below does it.

bat --decorations always --color always <file> | cat

P.S. But if there's an option for it, wouldn't it be convenient? For example, typing that long command might happen more frequent than expected in certain condition. It could be little cumbersome if not using an alias.

[vn971]

@jjangga0214 @sharkdp if I understand it correctly, the better command would be:

bat --paging=never <file>

This still includes coloring and decoration by default -- it just doesn't use the pager anymore.

[vn971]

Maybe some documentation is worth adding though. E.g. something with the word "interactive mode". I was staring at man bat for quite a long while before I've finally figured out that the key to disable the interactive mode is --paging=never. (As you see I've even had to go online first and find this issue, before finally finding a solution within the manual page after all.)

[vn971]

I've also raised an issue now for supporting the non-interactive mode on a global level a bit better: #2629