tail(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   tail(1)

NAME

       tail - deliver the last part of a file

SYNOPSIS

       number] [file]

       number] [file]

       number] [file]

   Obsolescent:
       [file]

DESCRIPTION

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

   Command Forms
       can be used in three forms as indicated above:

	      Copy file starting at number blocks from end or beginning of file.

	      Copy file starting at number bytes from end or beginning of file.

	      Copy file starting at number lines from end or beginning of file.

       with no options specified is equivalent to

   Options and Command-Line Arguments
       recognizes the following options and command-line arguments:

	      Follow option. If  the  input  file is a regular file or if file specifies a FIFO, do not terminate after the last line of the input
			     file has been copied, but read and copy further bytes from the input file when they become available enters  an  end-
			     less loop wherein it sleeps for one second then attempts to read and copy further records from the input file).  This
			     is useful when monitoring text being written to a file by another process.  If no file argument is specified and  the
			     input is a pipe (FIFO), the option is ignored.

	      number	     Decimal  integer  indicating quantity of output to be copied, measured in units specified by accompanying option.	If
			     number is preceded by a character, copy operation starts number units from beginning of file.  If number is  preceded
			     by a character or the option name, copy operation starts number units from end of file.  If number is not preceded by
			     a or option, is assumed.  If both the option and number are not specified, is assumed.

	      Copy file beginning
			     number 512-byte blocks from end or beginning of file.  If number is not specified, is assumed.  See  number  descrip-
			     tion above.

	      Copy file beginning
			     number bytes from end or beginning of file.  If number is not specified, is assumed.  See number description above.

	      Copy file beginning
			     number lines from end or beginning of file.  If number is not specified, is assumed.  See number description above.

	      file	     Name of file to be copied.  If not specified, the standard input is used.

       If the option is specified, the input file can contain arbitrary data.  Otherwise, the input file should be a text file.

   Obsolescent Form
       In the obsolescent form, option letters can be concatenated after the number argument to select blocks, bytes, or lines.  If this syntax is
       used, must be the first argument given.	If number is not specified, -10 is assumed.  This version is provided for  backward  compatibility
       only.  The forms discussed previously are recommended for portability.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

   Environment Variables
       determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (e.g., single- versus multibyte characters in
       arguments and input files).

       determines the language in which messages are displayed.

       If or is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of is used as a default for each  unspecified  or  empty
       variable.  If is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of

       If  any	internationalization  variable	contains an invalid setting, behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C".  See
       environ(5).

   International Code Set Support
       Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.  However, the and options can break multi-byte characters and should be used with
       caution in a multi-byte locale environment.

EXAMPLES

       Print the last three lines in file to the standard output, and leave in ``follow'' mode:

       Print the last 15 bytes of file followed by any lines that are appended to after is initiated until it is killed:

       Three ways to print an entire file:

WARNINGS

       Various	kinds  of  anomalous  behavior	may occur with character special files.  For piped output, is limited in its output and depends on
       process limits.

SEE ALSO

       dd(1), head(1).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

																	   tail(1)