TAIL(1)                              BSD                               TAIL(1)



NAME
     tail - deliver the last part of a file

SYNOPSIS
     tail [ +number[lbc][fr] ] [ file ]

DESCRIPTION
     tail copies the named file to the standard output beginning at a
     designated place.  If you don't name a file, tail uses the standard
     input.

     Copying begins at distance +number from the beginning, or -number from
     the end of the input.  number is counted in units of lines, blocks or
     characters, according to the appended option (see below). When no units
     are specified, counting is by lines.

OPTIONS
     +number   Begin copying number of units from the beginning of the input.

     -number   Begin copying number of units from the end of the input.

     +numberl  Count in units of lines.

     +numberb  Count in units of blocks.

     +numberc  Count in units of characters.

     +numberr  Print lines from the end of the file in reverse order.  If you
               don't specify a number, the default for r is to print the
               entire file this way.

     +numberf  Do not quit at the end of the file; wait and try to read
               repeatedly, hoping that the file will grow.

EXAMPLES
     The following command will copy the last 10 characters of the file named
     errfile to the standard output.

           tail -10c errfile

     The following command prints the contents of the file errfile in reverse
     order.

           tail -r errfile

BUGS
     Tails relative to the end of the file are treasured in a buffer, and thus
     are limited in length.

     Various kinds of anomalous behavior may happen with character special
     files.

SEE ALSO
     dd(1), head(1)