---
name: "blkcat"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "sleuthkit"
version: "4.15.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/blkcat"
---

# blkcat(1)

Display the contents of file system data unit in a disk image.

## NAME

blkcat - Display the contents of file system data unit in a disk image.

## SYNOPSIS

**blkcat \[-ahswvV\] \[-f fstype\] \[-u unit\_size\] \[-i imgtype\] \[-o imgoffset\] \[-b dev\_sector\_size\]** *image \[images\] unit\_addr \[num\]*

## DESCRIPTION

**blkcat** displays  **num** data units (default is one) starting at the unit address **unit\_addr** from **image** to stdout in different formats (default is raw). **blkcat** was called  **dcat** in TSK versions prior to 3.0.0.

## ARGUMENTS

- \-a

  Display the contents in ASCII

- \-f fstype

  Specify image as a specific file type.  If 'swap' is given here, the image will be displayed in pages of size 4096 bytes.  If 'raw' is given, then 512-bytes is used as the default size.  The '-u' flag can change the default size.   Use '-f list' to list the supported file system types. If not given, autodetection methods are used.

- \-h

  Display the contents in hexdump

- \-s

  Display statistics on the image (unit size, file block size,  and number of fragments).

- \-u unit\_size

  Specify the size of the default data unit for raw, blkls, and swap  images.

- \-i imgtype

  Identify the type of image file, such as raw. Use '-i list' to list the supported types. If not given, autodetection methods are used.

- \-o imgoffset

  The sector offset where the file system starts in the image.

- \-b dev\_sector\_size

  The size, in bytes, of the underlying device sectors.  If not given, the value in the image format is used (if it exists) or 512-bytes is assumed.

- \-v

  Verbose output to stderr.

- \-V

  Display version.

- \-w

  Display the contents in an HTML table format.

- image \[images\]

  The disk or partition image to read, whose format is given with '-i'. Multiple image file names can be given if the image is split into multiple segments. If only one image file is given, and its name is the first in a sequence (e.g., as indicated by ending in '.001'), subsequent image segments will be included automatically.

- unit\_addr

  Address of the disk unit to display.  The size of a unit on this  file system can be determined using the -s option.

- num

  Number of data units to display.

The basic functionality of  **blkcat** can also be achieved using **dd.** To determine which inode has allocated a given unit, the  **[ifind(1)](/ifind/1.md)** command can be used.

## EXAMPLES

\# blkcat -hw image 264 4

or

\# blkcat -hw image 264

## SEE ALSO

[**ifind**(1)](/ifind/1.md)

## AUTHOR

Brian Carrier \<carrier at sleuthkit dot org\>

Send documentation updates to \<doc-updates at sleuthkit dot org\>