Login or Register to Ask a Question and Join Our Community


Shell Programming and Scripting

tail -f for multiple files

Login to Discuss or Reply to this Discussion in Our Community

 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting tail -f for multiple files
# 1  
Old 03-24-2011
CPU & Memory tail -f for multiple files
Is there a way to view the log progress from multiple files.

For eg: I have 10 log files from 10 different instances. Instead of opening 10 terminal and doing tail -f on each, is it possible to view all the log changes in one tail -f?
Say I have file1,file2 .. file10

I have tried
Code:
tail -f file*

No luckSmilie

This is showing only the first log progress.

Thanks in advance.
Last edited by un1xl0ver_rwx; 03-25-2011 at 12:48 AM..
# 2  
Old 03-25-2011
No you can't tail -f on more than one file. What you can do is use screen to open more terminals in one terminal and then navigate to the other terminals where you can see you logs.
# 3  
Old 03-25-2011
Hi,

perhaps this is not exactly what you want, but try to put all but the last into background:
Code:
$ tail -f file1 &
$ tail -f file2 &
...
$ tail -f filen


To stop the tails you can successive put them into foreground with "fg" and stop them.

best regards
Andreas
Last edited by Franklin52; 03-25-2011 at 05:35 AM.. Reason: Please use code tags, thank you
# 4  
Old 03-25-2011
if you are on linux it support mult file tail

Code:
tail -f filename -f filename

Or use the below script.

Code:
#!/bin/sh

trap 'kill $(jobs -p)' EXIT

for file in "$@"
do

	tail -f $file &
done

wait

This User Gave Thanks to dinjo_jo For This Post:
rateeshkumar
# 5  
Old 03-25-2011
There is multitail.
Code:
http://www.vanheusden.com/multitail/

Though I havent used it.
# 6  
Old 03-25-2011
You will need to install that ,
# 7  
Old 03-25-2011
adding to the thread ,

i think multiple tailing files comes with RHEL5 . i have that one . and am able to see tailed text for both the files. But is there any option is there so that i can switch to files or i can stop one in run time ..

Just came to mind while reading the thread.....
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Shell Programming and Scripting

Joining multiple files tail on tail

I have 250 files that have 16 columns each - all numbered as follows stat.1000, stat.1001, stat.1002, stat.1003....stat.1250. I would like to join all 250 of them together tail by tail as follows. For example stat.1000 a b c d e f stat.1001 g h i j k l So that my output... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: kayak
2 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

prevent multiple tail in back ground

Dears i have a scrip run in unix that need to use the tail -f command, as below: DATE=`date '+%m%d%y'` tail -f /var/messages | grep "start" >> /export/logs/start_${DATE}.out but the problem that the tail -f will be stop and working in the background in then end of the day (23:59:59)... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: thehero
0 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

how to run tail -f for 3 log files from a script

hi i need to run from a bash script tail -f /var/log/access_log >> access1 tail -f /var/log/prod/prod1 >> access1 tail -f /var/log/prod/prod2 >> access1 this script purpose is to start at server boot time and should always run. what is the best way to put it on a script Thanks Dan (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: dan12341234
1 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

Multiple tail -f commands

I need to execute a program which will generate some alarms. I wish to capture those alarms in a single output file. I executed with following command on linux: tail -f test1.alarms -f test2.alarms|awk 'NR>20' >> output But however when I tried to execute same on solaris platforms it fails.... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: bhallarandeep
2 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

head / tail combination returns multiple rows

Hi, As part of our project, we need to load historical data for a year before our system is live. We have the data feed files that we need to load. However, I need to make sure that the file structure (number of fields separated by a comma) on the field is same for all the files of the same... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: raj.jha
1 Replies

6. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Using AWK: Extract data from multiple files and output to multiple new files

Hi, I'd like to process multiple files. For example: file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt Each file contains several lines of data. I want to extract a piece of data and output it to a new file. file1.txt ----> newfile1.txt file2.txt ----> newfile2.txt file3.txt ----> newfile3.txt Here is... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: Liverpaul09
3 Replies

7. Solaris

Tail for multiple files

Hi there, I'm trying to run a simple command in Solaris 10: tail -10 *.log But this gives me in the output just last 10 rows of a SINGLE log file :eek: (and there are many in active directory). Please, do you have any idea what's the problem? :confused: Is it a Solaris issue? Thank you in... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: MartinF
2 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

Drop common lines at head/tail of a large set of files

Hi! I have a large set of pairs of text files (each pair in their own subdirectory) and each pair shares head/tail (a couple of first and last lines) but differs in the middle part. I need to delete the heads/tails and keep only the middle portions in which they differ. The lengths of heads/tails... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: dobryden
1 Replies

9. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Constantly updating log files (tail -f? grep? awk?)

I have a log file which is continuously added to, called log.file. I'd like to monitor this file, and when certain lines are found, update some totals in another file. I've played around with tail -f, grep, and awk, but can't seem to hit the right note, so to speak. The lines I'm... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: nortonloaf
0 Replies

10. Shell Programming and Scripting

Tail-alike display of new files in directory

The system I work on, produces several kinds of status-files in a single directory. I would like to be able to see the files as they are added to this directory. I was wondering if it would be possible to get a "tail -f" alike view of the ls-command, in such a way that a newly added file is... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: rschelkers
4 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question