NAME

tail − deliver the last part of a file

SYNOPSIS

tail ±count[lbc] [r] [ file ]

DESCRIPTION

Tail lists the last count units of the specified file to the standard output.  Unlike head, tail only operates on one file at a time.  If no file is named, the standard input is used. 

The tail listing can be specified to begin either + count units from the beginning of the file, or - count units from the end of the file.  Count may be counted in units of lines, blocks or characters, according to the appended option l, b or c.  When no units are specified, counting is by lines.  The defail number of lines for tail is 10. 

Specifying r causes tail to print lines from the end of the file in reverse order.  The r option prints only lines starting at the specified place, and can not be combined with the [lbc] options.  The default for r is to print the entire file in reverse. 

EXAMPLES

tail +14b alpha

causes blocks 14 and following to be listed from the file alpha. 

tail alpha

causes the last 10 lines to be listed from the file alpha. 

SEE ALSO

dd(1), head(1)

BUGS

Tails selected as relative to the end of the file make use of a fixed-length buffer, and thus are limited in length. 

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

7th Edition  —  1/18/82