Numbered Cat

Right-click any file in the VSCode explorer to produce a numbered copy — like running cat -n on Unix, but integrated into your editor.

Why

Coverage reports, error messages, and test output all reference line numbers. When you paste code into a chat with an AI assistant, line numbers are lost and the AI has to count lines manually or estimate. Numbered Cat gives you a one-click way to get a numbered version of any file — either straight to your clipboard or saved to disk as a permanent artifact.

Every other line-numbers extension copies a selection to your clipboard. Numbered Cat works on the whole file, directly from the explorer panel.

Usage

Right-click any file in the Explorer panel. You'll see two options:

Copy with Line Numbers

Puts the numbered content straight into your clipboard. Nothing is written to disk — just paste directly into your AI chat, email, or wherever you need it.

Save with Line Numbers

Writes a numbered copy to disk next to the source file:

1  <?php
2
3  namespaceApp\Http\Controllers;
4
5  use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;

Line number width scales automatically with the file length — a 50-line file uses 2-digit padding, a 500-line file uses 3-digit padding, and so on.

Configuration

All settings apply to the Save with Line Numbers command and are under the numberedCat namespace in your VSCode settings.

Example: always produce a .txt file in a dedicated folder

"numberedCat.outputDirectory": "${workspaceFolder}/numbered-exports",
"numberedCat.outputExtension": "txt"

GigController.blade.php → numbered-exports/GigController.blade.php.txt

License

MIT