TAIL(1)

NAME

tail − deliver the last part of a file

SYNOPSIS

tail [ +-number[lbc][rf] ] [ file ]

DESCRIPTION

Tail copies the named file to the standard output beginning at a designated place. If no file is named, the standard input is copied.

Copying begins at position +number measured from the beginning, or -number from the end of the input. Number is counted in lines, 1K blocks or characters, according to the appended flag l, b, or c. Default is -10l (ten ell).

The further flag r causes tail to print lines from the end of the file in reverse order; f (follow) causes tail, after printing to the end, to keep watch and print further data as it appears.

EXAMPLES

tail file
Print the last 10 lines of a file.

tail +0f file
Print a file, and continue to watch data accumulate as it grows.

sed 10q file
Print the first 10 lines of a file.

BUGS

Tails relative to the end of the file are treasured up in a buffer, and thus are limited in length.
According to custom, option +number counts lines from 1, and counts blocks and characters from 0.