tail Command Examples

Display the last part of a file. See also: head. More information: https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/tail.

• Show last 'count' lines in file:

tail --lines {{count}} {{path/to/file}}

• Print a file from a specific line number:

tail --lines +{{count}} {{path/to/file}}

• Print a specific count of bytes from the end of a given file:

tail --bytes {{count}} {{path/to/file}}

• Print the last lines of a given file and keep reading it until Ctrl + C:

tail --follow {{path/to/file}}

• Keep reading file until Ctrl + C, even if the file is inaccessible:

tail --retry --follow {{path/to/file}}

• Show last 'num' lines in 'file' and refresh every 'n' seconds:

tail --lines {{count}} --sleep-interval {{seconds}} --follow {{path/to/file}}