I know, it's intentionally unrelated. But if you read my first sentence, you can do what you are interested in without using cat. sudo tee somefile > /dev/nu

I know, it's intentionally unrelated. But if you read my first sentence, you can do what you are interested in without using cat. sudo tee somefile > /dev/null And you will be able to paste from your clipboard or write anything you want. Without cat or piping.