In computing, netcat is a network utility for reading from and writing to network connections on either TCP or UDP. It is designed in a thin and simple way, which makes it easy to incorporate in larger applications. Because of its versatility, netcat is also called the "TCP/IP Swiss Army Knife".

The original version of netcat is a UNIX program. Its author is known only as *Hobbit*. A Windows version of netcat was created by Chris Wysopal.

Now netcat is fully POSIX compatible and this rewrite from scratch is known as GNU Netcat, maintained by Giovanni Giacobbi.

External link

• GNU Netcat
• Netcat description and download link