diff --git a/src/data.rs b/src/data.rs
index 57d5eaf..297dc13 100644
--- a/src/data.rs
+++ b/src/data.rs
@@ -24,3 +24,8 @@ pub fn hash_object(content: &Vec<u8>) -> String {
 
     return s;
 }
+
+pub fn get_object(hash: String) -> String {
+    return fs::read_to_string(format!("{}/{}/{}", RGIT_DIR, "objects", hash))
+        .expect("Could not find a matching object");
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index bb0fff3..39f1a2d 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -13,11 +13,17 @@ fn main() {
                 .about("created an hash for an object")
                 .arg(Arg::with_name("file").index(1).required(true)),
         )
+        .subcommand(
+            SubCommand::with_name("cat-file")
+                .about("outputs the original object from the provided hash")
+                .arg(Arg::with_name("hash").index(1).required(true)),
+        )
         .get_matches();
 
     match matches.subcommand_name() {
         Some("init") => init(),
         Some("hash-object") => hash_object(matches),
+        Some("cat-file") => cat_file(matches),
         _ => println!("unknown sub command"),
     }
 }
@@ -37,3 +43,10 @@ fn hash_object(matches: ArgMatches) {
         println!("{}", hash);
     }
 }
+
+fn cat_file(matches: ArgMatches) {
+    if let Some(cmd_matches) = matches.subcommand_matches("cat-file") {
+        let file_contents = data::get_object(cmd_matches.value_of("hash").unwrap().to_owned());
+        println!("{}", file_contents)
+    }
+}