tail - Display the last part of a file
Synopsis
tail [-f | -r] [-b number |
-c number | -k number |-n
number] [file ...]
Description
The tail utility displays the contents of
file or, by default, standard input, to the standard
output.
The display begins at a byte, line, 512-byte block, or kilobyte location in
the input. Numbers having a leading plus sign (+) are
relative to the beginning of the input, for example, "-c +2" starts
the display at the second byte of the input. Numbers
having a leading minus sign (-) or no explicit sign are relative to
the end of the input, for example, "-n 2" displays the last two
lines of the input. The default starting location is "-n 10", or
the last 10 lines of the input.
If more than one file is specified, each file is
preceded by a header consisting of the string "==> XXX <=="
where XXX is the name of the file.
| Note: |
tail does not support large files (files
greater than 2GB in size). |
Options
- -b number
- The location is number 512-byte blocks.
- -c number
- The location is number bytes.
- -f
- Causes tail to not stop when end of file is
reached, but rather to wait for additional data to be appended to
the input. The -f option is ignored if the
standard input is a pipe, but not if it is a FIFO.
- -k number
- The location is number kilobytes.
- -n number
- The location is number lines.
- -r
- Causes the input to be displayed in reverse order, by line.
Additionally, this option changes the meaning of the
-b, -c and -n options.
When the -r option is specified, these options
specify the number of bytes, lines or 512-byte blocks to display,
instead of the bytes, lines or blocks from the beginning or end of
the input from which to begin the display. The default for the
-r option is to display all of the input.
Exit Status
- 0 on success
- >0 if an error occurs
Related information
Examples
- Display the last 100 lines from the file "donkeys". If the
file "donkeys" is less than 100 lines, then tail
displays the entire file.
tail -n 100 donkeys