NAME

tra − copy out a file as it grows

SYNOPSIS

tra [ − ] [ −interval ] [ +limit ] file

DESCRIPTION

Tra functions similar to cat(1) but tra does not stop when it reaches the end of the file.  Instead, tra waits for a specified interval, and if there is more information in the file, the copying process is resumed. 

tra alternately copies out the new material in the file and sleeps for interval seconds, where the default interval is 15 seconds.  Limit can be given to limit the total running time of the tra, the default is effectively infinite. 

Tra normally copies out all the text currently in the file before beginning to watch for new text.  The − option alone causes only new material to be given. 

Tra is particularly useful for alternately watching the output file being written by a long shell script or a long-running program and doing real work. 

AUTHOR

Bill Joy

7th Edition  —  2/24/79