TAIL(1)TAIL(1)NAMEtail - deliver the last part of a file
SYNOPSIStail [ [+-]number[lbc][rf] ] [ file ]
tail [ -fr ] [ -n nlines ] [ -c ncharacters ] [ file ]
DESCRIPTION
Tail copies the named file to the standard output beginning at a desig‐
nated place. If no file is named, the standard input is copied.
Copying begins at position +number measured from the beginning, or
-number from the end of the input. Number is counted in lines, 1K
blocks or characters, according to the appended flag or Default is -10l
(ten ell).
The further flag causes tail to print lines from the end of the file in
reverse order; (follow) causes tail, after printing to the end, to keep
watch and print further data as it appears.
The second syntax is that promulgated by POSIX, where the numbers of
lines (-n) or characters (-c) are specified separately as signed inte‐
gers. Note than an unsigned value is treated as negative, ie '-n 2' is
equivalent to '-n -2'.
EXAMPLEStail file
Print the last 10 lines of a file.
tail +0f file
Print a file, and continue to watch data accumulate as it grows.
According to custom, option +number counts lines from 1, and
counts blocks and characters from 0.
tail-nlines +3 file
Print a file starting at line number 3
TAIL(1)
