tldr/pages/common/tail.md

# tail

> Display the last part of a file.
> More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/tail>.

- Show last 'num' lines in file:

`tail -n {{num}} {{file}}`

- Show all file since line 'num':

`tail -n +{{num}} {{file}}`

- Show last 'num' bytes in file:

`tail -c {{num}} {{file}}`

- Keep reading file until `Ctrl + C`:

`tail -f {{file}}`

- Keep reading file until `Ctrl + C`, even if the file is rotated:

`tail -F {{file}}`

- Show last 'num' lines in 'file' and refresh every 'n' seconds:

`tail -n {{num}} -s {{n}} -f {{file}}`
Add tail.md 2014-02-22 21:49:40 +00:00			`# tail`

Formatted all pages according to guidelines. 2016-01-07 17:31:27 +00:00			`> Display the last part of a file.`
coreutils*: use short more info links (#5658) 2021-04-01 16:54:26 +01:00			`> More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/tail>.`
Add tail.md 2014-02-22 21:49:40 +00:00
Formatted all pages according to guidelines. 2016-01-07 17:31:27 +00:00			`- Show last 'num' lines in file:`
Add tail.md 2014-02-22 21:49:40 +00:00
			`tail -n {{num}} {{file}}`

Formatted all pages according to guidelines. 2016-01-07 17:31:27 +00:00			`- Show all file since line 'num':`
Improved tail.md 2014-03-19 11:49:24 +00:00
			`tail -n +{{num}} {{file}}`

Formatted all pages according to guidelines. 2016-01-07 17:31:27 +00:00			`- Show last 'num' bytes in file:`
Add tail.md 2014-02-22 21:49:40 +00:00
			`tail -c {{num}} {{file}}`

change all keyboard shortcuts to have spaces around the + sign (#1356) 2017-04-28 23:34:51 +01:00			- Keep reading file until `Ctrl + C`:
Add tail.md 2014-02-22 21:49:40 +00:00
			`tail -f {{file}}`
update tail to indicate -F If I open the file with tail like this: $ tail -f /var/log/messages ... and if the log rotation facility on my machine decides to rotate that log file while I'm watching messages being written to it ("rotate" means delete or move to another location etc.), the output that I see will just stop. If I open the file with tail like this: $ tail -F /var/log/messages ... and again, the file is rotated, the output would continue to flow in my console because tail would reopen the file as soon as it became available again, i.e. when the program(s) writing to the log started writing to the new /var/log/messages. 2017-11-24 00:16:08 +00:00
add a comma 2017-11-24 06:11:53 +00:00			- Keep reading file until `Ctrl + C`, even if the file is rotated:
update tail to indicate -F If I open the file with tail like this: $ tail -f /var/log/messages ... and if the log rotation facility on my machine decides to rotate that log file while I'm watching messages being written to it ("rotate" means delete or move to another location etc.), the output that I see will just stop. If I open the file with tail like this: $ tail -F /var/log/messages ... and again, the file is rotated, the output would continue to flow in my console because tail would reopen the file as soon as it became available again, i.e. when the program(s) writing to the log started writing to the new /var/log/messages. 2017-11-24 00:16:08 +00:00
			`tail -F {{file}}`
tail: add example using -s parameter. (#4180) 2020-07-16 21:49:40 +01:00
			`- Show last 'num' lines in 'file' and refresh every 'n' seconds:`

			`tail -n {{num}} -s {{n}} -f {{file}}`