What is TAIL command?

What is TAIL command?

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The TAIL command is used to view the last few lines of the log files that store the most recent log entries.

Syntax:

TAIL [n] filename

where, n is the number of lines a user wants to view. If no value is provided for n, ten lines will be retrieved.

For example, the following command is used to view the last ten lines of the /var/log/messages log file:

TAIL /var/log/messages

The following command is used to view the last twenty lines of the /var/log/messages log file.

TAIL 20 /var/log/messages

Using option -f with the command displays its log entries when a message is added to a file. For example, the following command opens up the the /var/log/messages log file when a log entry is added to the file:

TAIL -f /var/log/messages

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