UNBUFFER(1) General Commands Manual UNBUFFER(1)
NAME
unbuffer - unbuffer output
SYNOPSIS
unbuffer program [ args ]
INTRODUCTION
unbuffer disables the output buffering that occurs when program output is redirected. For example, suppose you are watching the output
from a fifo by running it through od and then more.
od -c /tmp/fifo | more
You will not see anything until a full page of output has been produced.
You can disable this automatic buffering as follows:
unbuffer od -c /tmp/fifo | more
When you have a pipeline, unbuffer must be applied to each element except the last (since that doesn't have its output redirected). Exam-
ple:
unbuffer p1 | unbuffer p2 | unbuffer p3 | p4
BUGS
The man page is longer than the program.
SEE ALSO
"Exploring Expect: A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Programs" by Don Libes, O'Reilly and Associates, January 1995.
AUTHOR
Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology
1 June 1994 UNBUFFER(1)
