Follow a file as it grows
Read-only
What do risk levels mean?
- Read-only
- Inspects state without changing anything.
- Low risk
- Reversible with a routine follow-up command.
- Medium risk
- Changes state; undo path documented.
- Destructive
- Deletes or overwrites; confirmation required.
Streams new lines appended to a file in real time — the standard way to watch a log while reproducing a bug or monitoring a running job.
fileslogstailmonitor
Parameters
Path of the file to follow.
How many existing lines to show before following.
Commands
Print the last lines, then stream new lines as they are appended
tail -n 20 -f "<file>"Verification
tail -n 1 "<file>"The most recent line of the file, matching what the follow stream last showed.
Undo
Not undoable
This recipe only reads the file and changes nothing.
Pitfalls
- If the file is rotated (renamed and recreated), plain -f keeps following the old file; use tail -F to reattach.
- Press Ctrl+C to stop following; the command does not exit on its own.