TAIL(1) 								FSF								   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 only with -f

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

       -f, --follow[={name|descriptor}]
	      output appended data as the file grows; -f, --follow, and --follow=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 suffix: b for 512, k for 1024, m for 1048576 (1 Meg).

       With --follow (-f), tail defaults to following the file descriptor, which means that even if a tail'ed 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 Meyering.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-
       LAR PURPOSE.

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 (coreutils) 4.5.3						   February 2003							   TAIL(1)