TAIL(1)
NAME
tail - output the last part of files
SYNOPSIS
tail [-c [+]N[bkm]] [-n [+]N] [-fqv] [--bytes=[+]N[bkm]]
[--lines=[+]N] [--follow] [--quiet] [--silent] [--verbose]
[--help] [--version] [file...]
tail [{-,+}Nbcfklmqv] [file...]
DESCRIPTION
This documentation is no longer being maintained and may
be inaccurate or incomplete. The Texinfo documentation is
now the authoritative source.
This manual page documents the GNU version of tail. tail
prints the last part (10 lines by default) of each given
file; it reads from standard input if no files are given
or when a filename of `-' is encountered. If more than
one file is given, it prints a header consisting of the
file's name enclosed in `==>' and `<==' before the output
for each file.
The GNU tail can output any amount of data, unlike the
Unix version, which uses a fixed size buffer. It has no
-r option (print in reverse). Reversing a file is really
a different job from printing the end of a file; the BSD
tail can only reverse files that are at most as large as
its buffer, which is typically 32k. A reliable and more
versatile way to reverse files is the GNU tac command.
OPTIONS
tail accepts two option formats: the new one, in which
numbers are arguments to the option letters, and the old
one, in which a `+' or `-' and optional number precede any
option letters.
If a number (`N') starts with a `+', tail begins printing
with the Nth item from the start of each file, instead of
from the end.
-c N, --bytes N
Tail by N bytes. N is a nonzero integer, option-
ally followed by one of the following characters to
specify a different unit.
b 512-byte blocks.
k 1-kilobyte blocks.
m 1-megabyte blocks.
-f, --follow
Loop forever trying to read more characters at the
end of the file, on the assumption that the file is
growing. Ignored if reading from a pipe. If more
than one file is given, tail prints a header when-
ever it gets output from a different file, to indi-
cate which file that output is from.
-l, -n N, --lines N
Tail by N lines. -l is only recognized using the
old option format.
-q, --quiet, --silent
Never print filename headers.
-v, --verbose
Always print filename headers.
--help Print a usage message and exit with a status code
indicating success.
--version
Print version information on standard output then
exit.