TAKE COMMAND BEGINNERS

File management

TAIL AND
HEAD HEIKE JURZIK

You use programs like less or more when you want to immediately. You can leave this follow mode at any Although many things
view long files such as logs. But these aren't always the time using [Ctrl-C] and once more scroll through the
best choice. head and tail are two simple tools whose file. While running in "follow mode" less notes this can be readily accom-
names describe just what they do, and they make the with the text: plished using graphical
life of every Linux system administrator easier.
Waiting for data... (interrupt to abort) interfaces like KDE or
The end is near — tail in the status line. GNOME, anyone wish-

This neat little program writes, if it is not told to do
anything else, the last ten lines of each file to the
screen. If it is displaying the tails of more than one
file, tail notes for the user what file it is busy with at
the time: ==> file2 <==.
If you should want tail to display more or less
than the last ten lines, you can specify the number
of lines using the option -n number. The parameter
-q (for quiet) is also useful. It comes into play when
the ends of several files are output and you don't
want to be told which file end is which. (The para-
meter -v for verbose does precisely the opposite!)
Probably the most frequently used option of tail
is -f (which stands for follow). The display of files
which change constantly (like the log files
/var/log/messages or /var/log/maillog) should be
updated; to achieve this you must continuously
repeat the program call. This option does precisely
that. It constantly examines whether the file has
grown and displays the latest entries. It is useful, for
example, when root would like to view the connec-
tion messages of a modem:
root@blue ~ > tail -f /var/log/messages
Jul 27 21:02:22 blue chat[568]: expect (ssword:)
....
Jul 27 21:02:22 blue chat[568]: Password:
....
Jul 27 21:02:22 blue chat[568]: -- got it
Jul 27 21:02:23 blue pppd[567]: Connect: ppp0U
/dev/modem
Jul 27 21:02:24 blue pppd[567]: local IP addU
ress xxx.xx.xxx.xxx
ing to exploit their
Head to head!
Linux system properly
This program outputs – as you might have guessed
– the top ten lines of a file on the monitor. The cannot dispense with
options available are similar to those of tail: if there the command line.
are several files to be displayed an optical separation
in the output occurs. The option -n number is also There are also many
available in order to display, say, just the first five other situations where
lines in each case. head and tail are twins which are
dedicated to the same tasks: only one starts from it is good to know a
above and the other from below. little about the com-
If you have a whole series of configuration files
in the directory /etc and are not sure which one you mand line jungle.
have to make a change in, a rapid:
head /etc/*.conf
will list the start of all the configuration files. As these
files usually start with comments that explain the pur-
pose of the file, the correct one is quickly found.
root@blue ~ > head -n 3 /etc/w*.conf
==> /etc/webalizer.conf <==
#
# Sample Webalizer configuration file
# Copyright 1997-1999 by Bradford L. Barrett U
(brad<\@>mrunix.net)
==> /etc/whoson.conf <==
# whosun server and client sample configuratiU
on file
# Configuration entry is: "client" or "serverU
" starting from position
1,

Follow the lesser tail ==> /etc/wine.conf <==

;;
The command less also has an operating mode that ;; MS-DOS drives configuration
;;
permits the following of changes in a file. If you
type capital "F" in the current less ("F" here stands head has incidentally – unlike tail – no follow
again for "follow") then less waits for new lines to option as it is rather unusual to allow files to grow
be added to the file being viewed and displays them "upwards"… ■

2 · 2000 LINUX MAGAZINE 105