title: How to make 'cat' in Linux to interpret control characters
body: <p>Consider the following echo command: </p>
  
  <pre><code> echo -e "at\r"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>which produces the output <code>at</code> on the command line, i.e. the \r special character has been interpreted. I want to do the exact same thing with some text in a file. Supposing the exact same sequence</p>
  
  <pre><code>at\r
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>is written to a file named <code>at.txt</code>, then I want to display it on the terminal. But</p>
  
  <pre><code>cat at.txt
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>gives the output</p>
  
  <pre><code>at\r
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>what is not what I want. I want the special sequence \r to be interpreted, not just printed on the terminal. Anyone any idea?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks
    Alex</p>