UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

This maybe the dumpiest question you've ever been asked..but i've been browsing, searching and understanding lots of information that i get from the internet..i'm confused that i might be in the wrong way in understanding it since i have to do a system that count and build up a statistics for a server and the clock is ticking make me feel kind of lost..
And still i was left with a big confusion with what script/language/command should i use if i want to show the statistics from log files..
i have log files and i learn commands to grep it but the thing is that i confused with what script can bind them up..i am better with php and prefer the script but do i have to use another script such as Perl or else to show the output?
Your help is worth a lot

It would help if you can identify which tool you are using to collect the statistics - my guess would be sar, but there are a hundred tools out there for collecting various statistics...

i was working on a Unix server..the log files has already in the terminal..
i'm not allowed to use any tools to collect the statistics..i'm only allowed to use command and script since the log files is already provided in /etc..

all i need to do is create the script/command/use language to grep the information from the log files and then show it as an output..but i'm confused what script should i use since i also have to use command such as grep to collect the information..=(

For simple searches inside a text file:
grep "text I am looking for" <logfile>

if you have a long list of strings that you are looking for, you can create a file that has one pattern on each line

Example patternFile:

Code:

Connection failed
Connection refused
retry
not responding

/usr/xpg4/bin/grep -f patternFile <logfile>

This will find any instances of patternFile in logfile.

Alternatively, if you have a list of patterns that you do not want to report on, you can create a file that you will exclude

Example excludeFile:

Code:

kern.info] pseudo-device:
My unqualified host name
root-root

/usr/xpg4/bin/grep -Vf patternFile <logfile>

You can use them together to find everything that matches the first pattern, but does not match the second pattern file:

Code:

/usr/xpg4/bin/grep -f patternFile <logfile> | /usr/xpg4/bin/grep -vf exclude File

Take the time to learn what each line means before filtering it out. You can hide a problem for a long time with the wrong filters...

It would help if you showed us a small example of the log file and then a small example of the output you would like.

Thank you avronius..it would help me in collecting the information of the users by using grep command..i have made some research and found that i can use either Perl or Php command line in providing the output..but i'm not that sure..

prym_admin..my project apparently as same as webalizer (if u guys ever heard of it). It is a system to collect information of the downloader or visitors of website where it get the information from the log files,grep the prefered information and make it as an ouput (such as in graph or table of statistics)..

example of log file:
Sep 13 04:22:25 terminal newsyslog[693]: logfile turned over
10.10.100.10 - - [13/Sep/2008:04:23:34 +0800] "GET /~home/folder/folder/folder/folder/file.php HTTP/1.1" 404 278 "-" "-"

it has the ip address,time,date,downloaded file,type of browser used and so on..this is just one line of it..
i need to get all the information automatically save into a new file and then i have to show the output of the new file into a graph or table..
thanks a lot and sorry for my late reply..