The R Project SVN R

\name{cat}
\title{Concatenate and Print}
\usage{
cat(\dots , file = "", sep = " ", fill = FALSE, labels = NULL,
    append = FALSE)
}
\alias{cat}
\description{
  Prints the arguments, coercing them if necessary to character mode first.
}
\arguments{
  \item{\dots}{R objects which are coerced to character strings,
    concatenated, and printed, with the remaining arguments
    controlling the output.}
  \item{file}{character string naming the file to print to.  If
    \code{""} (the default), \code{cat} prints to the standard output.
#ifdef unix
    If it is \code{"|cmd"}, the output is piped to the command given
    by \file{cmd}.
#endif
  }
  \item{sep}{character string to insert between the objects to print.}
  \item{fill}{a logical or numeric controlling how the output is
    broken into successive lines.  If \code{FALSE}, only newlines
    created explicitly by \code{\n} are printed.  Otherwise, the
    output is broken into lines with print width equal to the option
    \code{width} if \code{fill} is \code{TRUE}, or the value of
    \code{fill} if this is numeric.}
  \item{labels}{character vector of labels for the lines printed.
    Ignored if \code{fill} is \code{FALSE}.}
  \item{append}{if \code{TRUE}, output will be appended to
    \code{file}; otherwise, it will overwrite the contents of
    \code{file}.}
}
\details{
  \code{cat} converts its arguments to character strings, concatenates
  them, separating them by the given \code{sep=} string, and then
  prints them.

  No linefeeds are printed unless explicitly requested by \code{"\n"}
  or if generated by filling (if argument \code{fill} is \code{TRUE} or
  numeric.)

  \code{cat} is useful for producing output in user defined functions.
}
\value{
  None (invisible \code{NULL}).
}
\seealso{
  \code{\link{print}}, \code{\link{format}}
}
\examples{
\testonly{iter <- rpois(1, lambda=10)}
## print an informative message
cat("iteration = ", iter <- iter + 1, "\n")
}
\keyword{print}
\keyword{file}