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Follow tail by name (fix for rolling logs with tail -f)

Terminal - Follow tail by name (fix for rolling logs with tail -f)
tail -F file
2009-07-23 07:37:11
User: recursiverse
Functions: tail
14
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Follow tail by name (fix for rolling logs with tail -f)

If you use 'tail -f foo.txt' and it becomes temporarily moved/deleted (ie: log rolls over) then tail will not pick up on the new foo.txt and simply waits with no output.

'tail -F' allows you to follow the file by it's name, rather than a descriptor. If foo.txt disappears, tail will wait until the filename appears again and then continues tailing.

Add to favourites | Report as malicious

Alternatives

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Terminal - Alternatives

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What others think

I love this command. Don't forget you can follow more than one file at once: tail -F error_apache.log error_php.log error_trac.log error_svn.log

Comment by rkulla 166 weeks and 2 days ago

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