TAIL(1) 			 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 standard input.

       Mandatory  arguments  to  long  options are mandatory for short options
       too.

       --retry
	      keep trying to open a file even if it is inaccessible when  tail
	      starts  or if it becomes inaccessible later; useful when follow
	      ing by name, i.e., with --follow=name

       -c, --bytes=N
	      output the last N bytes

       -f, --follow[={name|descriptor}]
	      output appended data as the file grows; -f, --follow, and --fol
	      low=descriptor are equivalent

       -F     same as --follow=name --retry

       -n, --lines=N
	      output the last N lines, instead of the last 10

       --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)

       --pid=PID
	      with -f, terminate after process ID, PID dies

       -q, --quiet, --silent
	      never output headers giving file names

       -s, --sleep-interval=S
	      with -f, sleep for approximately S seconds (default 1.0) between
	      iterations.

       -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 N (the number of bytes or lines)  is  a  +,
       print  beginning  with the Nth item from the start of each file, other
       wise, print the last N items in the file.  N may have a multiplier suf
       fix: b 512, k 1024, m 1024*1024.

       With  --follow  (-f),  tail  defaults to following the file descriptor,
       which means that even if a tailed 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 descrip
       tor (e.g., log rotation).  Use --follow=name in that case.  That causes
       tail to track the named file by reopening it periodically to see if  it
       has been removed and recreated by some other program.

AUTHOR
       Written	by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Ian Lance Taylor, and Jim Mey
       ering.

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs to .

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright  2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       This is free software.  You may redistribute copies  of	it  under  the
       terms	   of	    the      GNU      General	   Public      License
       .	There is NO WARRANTY,  to  the
       extent permitted by law.

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 tail

       should give you access to the complete manual.



tail 5.97			 January 2007			       TAIL(1)