1 .\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! It was generated by help2man 1.012.
2 .TH TAIL "1" "August 1999" "GNU textutils 2.0" FSF
4 tail \- output the last part of files
7 [\fIOPTION\fR]... [\fIFILE\fR]...
10 .\" Add any additional description here
12 Print the last 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.
13 With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving the file name.
14 With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
17 keep trying to open a file even if it is
19 inaccessible when tail starts or if it becomes
20 inaccessible later \fB\-\-\fR useful only with \fB\-f\fR
22 \fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-bytes\fR=\fIN\fR
23 output the last N bytes
25 \fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-follow[=\fR{name|descriptor}] output appended data as the file grows;
27 \fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-follow\fR, and \fB\-\-follow\fR=\fIdescriptor\fR are
30 \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-lines\fR=\fIN\fR
31 output the last N lines, instead of the last 10
33 \fB\-\-max\-unchanged\-stats\fR=\fIN\fR see the texinfo documentation
37 \fB\-\-max\-consecutive\-size\-changes\fR=\fIN\fR see the texinfo documentation
41 \fB\-\-pid\fR=\fIPID\fR
42 with \fB\-f\fR, terminate after process ID, PID dies
44 \fB\-q\fR, \fB\-\-quiet\fR, \fB\-\-silent\fR
45 never output headers giving file names
47 \fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-sleep\-interval\fR=\fIS\fR
48 with \fB\-f\fR, sleep S seconds between iterations
50 \fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
51 always output headers giving file names
54 display this help and exit
57 output version information and exit
59 If the first character of N (the number of bytes or lines) is a `+',
60 print beginning with the Nth item from the start of each file, otherwise,
61 print the last N items in the file. N may have a multiplier suffix:
62 b for 512, k for 1024, m for 1048576 (1 Meg). A first OPTION of \fB\-VALUE\fR
63 or +VALUE is treated like \fB\-n\fR VALUE or \fB\-n\fR +VALUE unless VALUE has one of
64 the [bkm] suffix multipliers, in which case it is treated like \fB\-c\fR VALUE
67 With \fB\-\-follow\fR (-f), tail defaults to following the file descriptor, which
68 means that even if a tail'ed file is renamed, tail will continue to track
69 its end. This default behavior is not desirable when you really want to
70 track the actual name of the file, not the file descriptor (e.g., log
71 rotation). Use \fB\-\-follow\fR=\fIname\fR in that case. That causes tail to track the
72 named file by reopening it periodically to see if it has been removed and
73 recreated by some other program.
75 Report bugs to <bug-textutils@gnu.org>.
77 The full documentation for
79 is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the
83 programs are properly installed at your site, the command
87 should give you access to the complete manual.
89 Copyright \(co 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
91 This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
92 warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.