Linux tail Command

In Linux we use “tail” command to output the end of a file.

The Linux tail command allows us to check if a file has new data attached.

web servers like Apache or nginx write status information into so-called log files.

tail Command Syntax

~$  tail [options] <files>

~$  tail logfile

~$  tail logfile1, logfile2

The Linux tail command can be controlled using parameters.

Option (short-form/long-form)	Explanation
-n / --lines	Limit output to the last n lines/limit output to the lines following from line n
-c / --bytes	Limit output to the last n bytes/limit output to the bytes following from byte n
-q / --quiet --silent When using multiple files	suppress the output of the file names
-v / --verbose	Force output of file names when used with multiple files
--help	View Help section for command
--version	View version information of

tail ‘-n’ option displays the specified number of lines.

~$  tail -n <number> <file name>  

~$  tail -n 5 num.txt

tail ‘-c’ option displays the specified number of bytes from the last. To display the specified number of bytes, run the following command.

~$  tail -c <number> <file name>  

~$  tail -c 6 num.txt

use the suffix with the number such as b, kb, k, MB, and more to specify the number of bytes.

tail Command can be piped with other commands like ls command. It will display the four files or folders modified the longest time ago.

~$  ls -t /bin | tail -n 4

Use ps command to display the top running process pipe with tail command.

~$ ps aux | sort -nk +3 | tail -2