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Site by David Winterbottom (user root).

Watch contents of a file grow

Terminal - Watch contents of a file grow
tail -n 0 -f /var/log/messages
2009-03-02 14:21:18
User: atoponce
Functions: tail
3
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Watch contents of a file grow

In this case, I'm keeping an eye on /var/log/messages, but of course any file will do. When I'm following a file, I generally don't want to see anything other than what has been added due to the command or service I've executed. This keeps everything clean and tidy for troubleshooting.

Add to favourites | Report as malicious

Know a better way?

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What others think

Never thought about that. It's true when you monitor a log file, only new lines are of any interest !

Comment by CodSpirit 78 weeks and 3 days ago

Good idea :)

Comment by raphink 78 weeks and 3 days ago

You can use it without "-n 0".

Just tap enter several times to get some free space between

old and new lines. This might be helpful by watching logfiles

- while - they grow.

Comment by Bender 78 weeks and 2 days ago

I find it useful to associate this with screen splitting in screen. From within a screen session :

^A S : split the screen

tail -n 0 -f /var/log/syslog

^A ^I : focus on the second panel

^A ^C : create a new screen session in the panel

Do your actions in the second panel while you watch your file in the panel on top. Use ^A ^I to switch between panels.

Comment by raphink 78 weeks and 2 days ago

@raphink why not use Yakuake

and you have your log to your right and you can keep executing commands in your left.

Comment by wrongloop 70 weeks and 4 days ago

Your point of view

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