NAME
tailf – follow the growth of a log fileSYNOPSIS
tailf [option] fileDESCRIPTION
tailf will print out the last 10 lines of the given file and then wait for this file to grow. It is similar to tail -f but does not access the file when it is not growing. This has the side effect of not updating the access time for the file, so a filesystem flush does not occur periodically when no log activity is happening.tailf is extremely useful for monitoring log files on a laptop when logging is infrequent and the user desires that the hard disk spin down to conserve battery life.
- -n, –lines=number, –number
- Output the last number lines, instead of the last 10.
- -V, –version
- Display version information and exit.
- -h
, –help- Display help text and exit.
AVAILABILITY
The tailf command is part of the util-linux package and is available from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.
Willie
Willie has over 15 years of experience in Linux system administration and DevOps. After managing infrastructure for startups and enterprises alike, he founded Command Linux to share the practical knowledge he wished he had when starting out. He oversees content strategy and contributes guides on server management, automation, and security.