tail
(1g)
Name
tail - output the last part of files
Synopsis
tail [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Description
User Commands TAIL(1)
NAME
tail - output the last part of files
SYNOPSIS
tail [OPTION]... [FILE]...
DESCRIPTION
Print the last 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.
With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving
the file name. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read stan-
dard input.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short
options too.
-c, --bytes=K
output the last K bytes; alternatively, use -c +K to
output bytes starting with the Kth of each file
-f, --follow[={name|descriptor}]
output appended data as the file grows; -f, --follow,
and --follow=descriptor are equivalent
-F same as --follow=name --retry
-n, --lines=K
output the last K lines, instead of the last 10; or use
-n +K to output lines starting with the Kth
--max-unchanged-stats=N
with --follow=name, reopen a FILE which has not changed
size after N (default 5) iterations to see if it has
been unlinked or renamed (this is the usual case of
rotated log files). With inotify, this option is
rarely useful.
--pid=PID
with -f, terminate after process ID, PID dies
-q, --quiet, --silent
never output headers giving file names
--retry
keep trying to open a file even when it is or becomes
inaccessible; useful when following by name, i.e., with
--follow=name
-s, --sleep-interval=N
with -f, sleep for approximately N seconds (default
1.0) between iterations. With inotify and --pid=P,
check process P at least once every N seconds.
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 1
User Commands TAIL(1)
-v, --verbose
always output headers giving file names
--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
If the first character of K (the number of bytes or lines)
is a '+', print beginning with the Kth item from the start
of each file, otherwise, print the last K items in the file.
K may have a multiplier suffix: b 512, kB 1000, K 1024, MB
1000*1000, M 1024*1024, GB 1000*1000*1000, G 1024*1024*1024,
and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y.
With --follow (-f), tail defaults to following the file
descriptor, which means that even if a tail'ed file is
renamed, tail will continue to track its end. This default
behavior is not desirable when you really want to track the
actual name of the file, not the file descriptor (e.g., log
rotation). Use --follow=name in that case. That causes
tail to track the named file in a way that accommodates
renaming, removal and creation.
AUTHOR
Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Ian Lance Taylor,
and Jim Meyering.
REPORTING BUGS
Report tail bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/core-
utils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/geth-
elp/>
Report tail translation bugs to <http://translationpro-
ject.org/team/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License
GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redis-
tribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted
by law.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 2
User Commands TAIL(1)
+---------------+--------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------+
|Availability | file/gnu-coreutils |
+---------------+--------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+--------------------+
SEE ALSO
The full documentation for tail is maintained as a Texinfo
manual. If the info and tail programs are properly
installed at your site, the command
info coreutils 'tail invocation'
should give you access to the complete manual.
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from
http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-8.16.tar.xz
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.gnu.org/soft-
ware/coreutils/.
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 3