Copying Files via `cat` and `dd`

cat and dd are standard Unix utilities for handling file data.

• cat outputs the contents of a file to stdout.
• dd reads stdin (if no if=) and writes to stdout or a file.

To copy a file, you can use a Unix pipe (|) to send cat's output to dd, then write to a destination file:

cat sourcefile | dd of=destinationfile

Potential Advantages of cat and dd Over cp

Better progress/statistics

• dd with the status=progress (GNU dd) option shows live copy statistics:

  cat bigfile | dd of=outfile status=progress

Working Around cp Limitations

• Some device files, file descriptors, or pseudo-files (like /proc or /sys) do not support cp, but streaming with cat + dd may work.