diff --git a/Help/manual/cmake.1.rst b/Help/manual/cmake.1.rst
index 5a2524bd27..f31ef43e8d 100644
--- a/Help/manual/cmake.1.rst
+++ b/Help/manual/cmake.1.rst
@@ -1192,6 +1192,10 @@ Available commands are:
 
     ``cat`` can now print the standard input by passing the ``-`` argument.
 
+  .. versionadded:: 4.4
+
+    ``cat`` will print the standard input when no arguments are passed.
+
 .. program:: cmake-E
 
 .. option:: chdir <dir> <cmd> [<arg>...]
diff --git a/Source/cmcmd.cxx b/Source/cmcmd.cxx
index 7d95c73fbb..4b08d00484 100644
--- a/Source/cmcmd.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmcmd.cxx
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ bool cmTarFilesFrom(std::string const& file, std::vector<std::string>& files)
   return true;
 }
 
-void cmCatFile(std::string const& fileToAppend)
+void cmCatFile(cm::optional<std::string> fileToAppend)
 {
 #ifdef _WIN32
   _setmode(fileno(stdin), _O_BINARY);
@@ -211,8 +211,8 @@ void cmCatFile(std::string const& fileToAppend)
 #endif
   std::streambuf* buf = std::cin.rdbuf();
   cmsys::ifstream source;
-  if (fileToAppend != "-") {
-    source.open(fileToAppend.c_str(), (std::ios::binary | std::ios::in));
+  if (fileToAppend.has_value()) {
+    source.open(fileToAppend->c_str(), (std::ios::binary | std::ios::in));
     buf = source.rdbuf();
   }
   std::cout << buf;
@@ -1535,7 +1535,13 @@ int cmcmd::ExecuteCMakeCommand(std::vector<std::string> const& args,
     }
 
     // Command to concat files into one
-    if (args[1] == "cat" && args.size() >= 3) {
+    if (args[1] == "cat") {
+      if (args.size() == 2) {
+        // Destroy console buffers to drop cout/cerr encoding transform.
+        console.reset();
+        cmCatFile(cm::nullopt);
+        return 0;
+      }
       int return_value = 0;
       bool doing_options = true;
       for (auto const& arg : cmMakeRange(args).advance(2)) {
@@ -1543,7 +1549,7 @@ int cmcmd::ExecuteCMakeCommand(std::vector<std::string> const& args,
           doing_options = false;
           // Destroy console buffers to drop cout/cerr encoding transform.
           console.reset();
-          cmCatFile(arg);
+          cmCatFile(cm::nullopt);
         } else if (doing_options && cmHasPrefix(arg, '-')) {
           if (arg == "--") {
             doing_options = false;
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/E_cat-stdin.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/E_cat-stdin.cmake
index e83e6194d3..e168bb994d 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/E_cat-stdin.cmake
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/E_cat-stdin.cmake
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
-file(WRITE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ell.txt" "ell")
+file(WRITE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ll.txt" "ll")
 file(WRITE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/rld.txt" "rld")
 execute_process(
   COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo_append "H"
-  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E cat -
+  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E cat - # Read stdin from - arg
+  )
+execute_process(
+  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo_append "e"
+  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E cat # Read stdin when no args
   )
 execute_process(
   COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo_append "o wo"
-  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E cat "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ell.txt" - "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/rld.txt"
+  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E cat "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ll.txt" - "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/rld.txt"
   )