The answer is
DOS has no tail command; you can download a Windows binary for GNU tail and other GNU tools here.
If you use PowerShell then this works:
Get-Content filenamehere -Wait -Tail 30
Posting Stefan's comment from below, so people don't miss it
PowerShell 3 introduces a -Tail parameter to include only the last x lines
I've used Tail For Windows. Certainly not as elegant as using
tailbut then, you're using Windows. ;)
If you use PowerShell then this works:
Get-Content filenamehere -Wait -Tail 30
Posting Stefan's comment from below, so people don't miss it
PowerShell 3 introduces a -Tail parameter to include only the last x lines
Try Windows Services for UNIX. Provides shells, awk, sed, etc. as well as tail.
Update -: Unfortunately, as of 2019 this system is no longer available on the Microsoft Download Center.
If you use PowerShell then this works:
Get-Content filenamehere -Wait -Tail 30
Posting Stefan's comment from below, so people don't miss it
PowerShell 3 introduces a -Tail parameter to include only the last x lines
I think I have found a utility that meets the need for the tail function in batch files. It's called "mtee", and it's free. I've incorporated it into a batch file I'm working on and it does the job very nicely. Just make sure to put the executable into a directory in the PATH statement, and away you go.
Here's the link:
I'm using Kiwi Log Viewer. It's free.
DOS's type works like *nux's cat, though just like cat, it does dump the whole file, so it's not really a true tail, but it's going to be available in a pinch without downloading/installing a true tail substitute.
I think I have found a utility that meets the need for the tail function in batch files. It's called "mtee", and it's free. I've incorporated it into a batch file I'm working on and it does the job very nicely. Just make sure to put the executable into a directory in the PATH statement, and away you go.
Here's the link:
I haven't seen Log Expert anywhere among answers here.
It's customizable and is quite good for going around log files. So far it's the best Windows graphical log viewer for me.
Unfortunately, this software is no longer available. You can read about it on archive.org.
Try Windows Services for UNIX. Provides shells, awk, sed, etc. as well as tail.
Update -: Unfortunately, as of 2019 this system is no longer available on the Microsoft Download Center.
Another option would be to install MSYS (which is more leightweight than Cygwin).
The tail command and many others are available in the Windows Resource Kit Tools package.
I prefer TailMe because of the possibility to watch several log files simultaneously in one window: http://www.dschensky.de/Software/Staff/tailme_en.htm
There are quite a number of options, however all of them have flaws with more advanced features.
GnuWin32 tail is buggy (a ß ?) - things like -f just plain don't work.
UnxUtils tail seems better (-f works, but --pid seems not to, -n but not --lines=n fails with -f), but appears to be a dead project.
Cygwin is a big ugly mush, could perhaps just use the DLL and coreutils package - but still has problems like --pid not working with native win32 processes.
Download the tail command, part of Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools from Microsoft itself.
In Far Manager, press F3 on a file to enter the standard viewer, then the End key to navigate to the end of file.
If the file is updated, Far Manager will scroll it automatically.
If you want to use Win32 ports of some Unix utilities (rather than installing Cygwin), I recommend GNU utilities for Win32.
Lighter weight than Cygwin and more portable.
I've always used Baretail for tailing in Windows. It's free and pretty nice.
Edit: for a better description of Baretail see this question
I've used Tail For Windows. Certainly not as elegant as using
tailbut then, you're using Windows. ;)
If you want to use Win32 ports of some Unix utilities (rather than installing Cygwin), I recommend GNU utilities for Win32.
Lighter weight than Cygwin and more portable.
Anybody interested in a DOS CMD tail using batch commands (see below).
It's not prefect, and lines sometime repeat.
Usage: tail.bat -d tail.bat -f -f
@echo off
SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
rem tail.bat -d <lines> <file>
rem tail.bat -f <file>
rem ****** MAIN ******
IF "%1"=="-d" GOTO displayfile
IF "%1"=="-f" GOTO followfile
GOTO end
rem ************
rem Show Last n lines of file
rem ************
:displayfile
SET skiplines=%2
SET sourcefile=%3
rem *** Get the current line count of file ***
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3,3 delims= " %%l IN (`find /c /v "" %sourcefile%`) DO (call SET find_lc=%%l)
rem *** Calculate the lines to skip
SET /A skiplines=%find_lc%-!skiplines!
rem *** Display to screen line needed
more +%skiplines% %sourcefile%
GOTO end
rem ************
rem Show Last n lines of file & follow output
rem ************
:followfile
SET skiplines=0
SET findend_lc=0
SET sourcefile=%2
:followloop
rem *** Get the current line count of file ***
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3,3 delims= " %%l IN (`find /c /v "" %sourcefile%`) DO (call SET find_lc=%%l)
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3,3 delims= " %%l IN (`find /c /v "" %sourcefile%`) DO (call SET findend_lc=%%l)
rem *** Calculate the lines to skip
SET /A skiplines=%findend_lc%-%find_lc%
SET /A skiplines=%find_lc%-%skiplines%
rem *** Display to screen line when file updated
more +%skiplines% %sourcefile%
goto followloop
:end
Graphical log viewers, while they might be very good for viewing log files, don't meet the need for a command line utility that can be incorporated into scripts (or batch files). Often such a simple and general-purpose command can be used as part of a specialized solution for a particular environment. Graphical methods don't lend themselves readily to such use.
You can try WinTail as well.
??
Install MKS Toolkit... So that you can run all Unix commands on Windows.
The command is:
tail -f <file-name>
Graphical log viewers, while they might be very good for viewing log files, don't meet the need for a command line utility that can be incorporated into scripts (or batch files). Often such a simple and general-purpose command can be used as part of a specialized solution for a particular environment. Graphical methods don't lend themselves readily to such use.
You can get tail as part of Cygwin.
If you want to use Win32 ports of some Unix utilities (rather than installing Cygwin), I recommend GNU utilities for Win32.
Lighter weight than Cygwin and more portable.
You can get tail as part of Cygwin.
I just wrote this little batch script. It isn't as sophisticated as the Unix "tail", but hopefully someone can add on to it to improve it, like limiting the output to the last 10 lines of the file, etc. If you do improve this script, please send it to me at robbing ~[at]~ gmail.com.
@echo off
:: This is a batch script I wrote to mimic the 'tail' UNIX command.
:: It is far from perfect, but I am posting it in the hopes that it will
:: be improved by other people. This was designed to work on Windows 7.
:: I have not tested it on any other versions of Windows
if "%1" == "" goto noarg
if "%1" == "/?" goto help
if "%1" == "-?" goto help
if NOT EXIST %1 goto notfound
set taildelay=%2
if "%taildelay%"=="" set taildelay=1
:loop
cls
type %1
:: I use the CHOICE command to create a delay in batch.
CHOICE /C YN /D Y /N /T %taildelay%
goto loop
:: Error handlers
:noarg
echo No arguments given. Try /? for help.
goto die
:notfound
echo The file '%1' could not be found.
goto die
:: Help text
:help
echo TAIL filename [seconds]
:: I use the call more pipe as a way to insert blank lines since echo. doesnt
:: seem to work on Windows 7
call | more
echo Description:
echo This is a Windows version of the UNIX 'tail' command.
echo Written completely from scratch by Andrey G.
call | more
echo Parameters:
echo filename The name of the file to display
call | more
echo [seconds] The number of seconds to delay before reloading the
echo file and displaying it again. Default is set to 1
call | more
echo ú /? Displays this help message
call | more
echo NOTE:
echo To exit while TAIL is running, press CTRL+C.
call | more
echo Example:
echo TAIL foo 5
call | more
echo Will display the contents of the file 'foo',
echo refreshing every 5 seconds.
call | more
:: This is the end
:die
With Windows PowerShell you can use:
Get-Content <file> -Wait
If you do not want to install anything at all you can "build your own" batch file that does the job from standard Windows commands. Here are some pointers as to how to do it.
1) Using find /c /v "" yourinput.file, get the number of lines in your input file. The output is something like:
---------- T.TXT: 15
2) Using for /f, parse this output to get the number 15.
3) Using set /a, calculate the number of head lines that needs to be skipped
4) Using for /f "skip=n" skip the head lines and echo/process the tail lines.
If I find the time, I will build such a batch file and post it back here.
EDIT: tail.bat
REM tail.bat
REM
REM Usage: tail.bat <file> <number-of-lines>
REM
REM Examples: tail.bat myfile.txt 10
REM tail.bat "C:\My File\With\Spaces.txt" 10
@ECHO OFF
for /f "tokens=2-3 delims=:" %%f in ('find /c /v "" %1') do (
for %%F in (%%f %%g) do set nbLines=%%F )
set /a nbSkippedLines=%nbLines%-%2
for /f "usebackq skip=%nbSkippedLines% delims=" %%d in (%1) do echo %%d
I've used Tail For Windows. Certainly not as elegant as using
tailbut then, you're using Windows. ;)
If you do not want to install anything at all you can "build your own" batch file that does the job from standard Windows commands. Here are some pointers as to how to do it.
1) Using find /c /v "" yourinput.file, get the number of lines in your input file. The output is something like:
---------- T.TXT: 15
2) Using for /f, parse this output to get the number 15.
3) Using set /a, calculate the number of head lines that needs to be skipped
4) Using for /f "skip=n" skip the head lines and echo/process the tail lines.
If I find the time, I will build such a batch file and post it back here.
EDIT: tail.bat
REM tail.bat
REM
REM Usage: tail.bat <file> <number-of-lines>
REM
REM Examples: tail.bat myfile.txt 10
REM tail.bat "C:\My File\With\Spaces.txt" 10
@ECHO OFF
for /f "tokens=2-3 delims=:" %%f in ('find /c /v "" %1') do (
for %%F in (%%f %%g) do set nbLines=%%F )
set /a nbSkippedLines=%nbLines%-%2
for /f "usebackq skip=%nbSkippedLines% delims=" %%d in (%1) do echo %%d
I've used Mtail recently and it seems to work well. This is the GUI type like baretail mentioned above.
You can get tail as part of Cygwin.
If you want to use Win32 ports of some Unix utilities (rather than installing Cygwin), I recommend GNU utilities for Win32.
Lighter weight than Cygwin and more portable.
Install MKS Toolkit... So that you can run all Unix commands on Windows.
The command is:
tail -f <file-name>
You can get tail as part of Cygwin.
Anybody interested in a DOS CMD tail using batch commands (see below).
It's not prefect, and lines sometime repeat.
Usage: tail.bat -d tail.bat -f -f
@echo off
SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
rem tail.bat -d <lines> <file>
rem tail.bat -f <file>
rem ****** MAIN ******
IF "%1"=="-d" GOTO displayfile
IF "%1"=="-f" GOTO followfile
GOTO end
rem ************
rem Show Last n lines of file
rem ************
:displayfile
SET skiplines=%2
SET sourcefile=%3
rem *** Get the current line count of file ***
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3,3 delims= " %%l IN (`find /c /v "" %sourcefile%`) DO (call SET find_lc=%%l)
rem *** Calculate the lines to skip
SET /A skiplines=%find_lc%-!skiplines!
rem *** Display to screen line needed
more +%skiplines% %sourcefile%
GOTO end
rem ************
rem Show Last n lines of file & follow output
rem ************
:followfile
SET skiplines=0
SET findend_lc=0
SET sourcefile=%2
:followloop
rem *** Get the current line count of file ***
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3,3 delims= " %%l IN (`find /c /v "" %sourcefile%`) DO (call SET find_lc=%%l)
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3,3 delims= " %%l IN (`find /c /v "" %sourcefile%`) DO (call SET findend_lc=%%l)
rem *** Calculate the lines to skip
SET /A skiplines=%findend_lc%-%find_lc%
SET /A skiplines=%find_lc%-%skiplines%
rem *** Display to screen line when file updated
more +%skiplines% %sourcefile%
goto followloop
:end
With Windows PowerShell you can use:
Get-Content <file> -Wait
I prefer TailMe because of the possibility to watch several log files simultaneously in one window: http://www.dschensky.de/Software/Staff/tailme_en.htm
I've always used Baretail for tailing in Windows. It's free and pretty nice.
Edit: for a better description of Baretail see this question
Try Windows Services for UNIX. Provides shells, awk, sed, etc. as well as tail.
Update -: Unfortunately, as of 2019 this system is no longer available on the Microsoft Download Center.
If you do not want to install anything at all you can "build your own" batch file that does the job from standard Windows commands. Here are some pointers as to how to do it.
1) Using find /c /v "" yourinput.file, get the number of lines in your input file. The output is something like:
---------- T.TXT: 15
2) Using for /f, parse this output to get the number 15.
3) Using set /a, calculate the number of head lines that needs to be skipped
4) Using for /f "skip=n" skip the head lines and echo/process the tail lines.
If I find the time, I will build such a batch file and post it back here.
EDIT: tail.bat
REM tail.bat
REM
REM Usage: tail.bat <file> <number-of-lines>
REM
REM Examples: tail.bat myfile.txt 10
REM tail.bat "C:\My File\With\Spaces.txt" 10
@ECHO OFF
for /f "tokens=2-3 delims=:" %%f in ('find /c /v "" %1') do (
for %%F in (%%f %%g) do set nbLines=%%F )
set /a nbSkippedLines=%nbLines%-%2
for /f "usebackq skip=%nbSkippedLines% delims=" %%d in (%1) do echo %%d
I've always used Baretail for tailing in Windows. It's free and pretty nice.
Edit: for a better description of Baretail see this question
DOS's type works like *nux's cat, though just like cat, it does dump the whole file, so it's not really a true tail, but it's going to be available in a pinch without downloading/installing a true tail substitute.
Another option would be to install MSYS (which is more leightweight than Cygwin).
Download the tail command, part of Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools from Microsoft itself.
I'm using Kiwi Log Viewer. It's free.
There are quite a number of options, however all of them have flaws with more advanced features.
GnuWin32 tail is buggy (a ß ?) - things like -f just plain don't work.
UnxUtils tail seems better (-f works, but --pid seems not to, -n but not --lines=n fails with -f), but appears to be a dead project.
Cygwin is a big ugly mush, could perhaps just use the DLL and coreutils package - but still has problems like --pid not working with native win32 processes.
I've used Mtail recently and it seems to work well. This is the GUI type like baretail mentioned above.
You can try WinTail as well.
??
The tail command and many others are available in the Windows Resource Kit Tools package.
I haven't seen Log Expert anywhere among answers here.
It's customizable and is quite good for going around log files. So far it's the best Windows graphical log viewer for me.
Unfortunately, this software is no longer available. You can read about it on archive.org.
There are quite a number of options, however all of them have flaws with more advanced features.
GnuWin32 tail is buggy (a ß ?) - things like -f just plain don't work.
UnxUtils tail seems better (-f works, but --pid seems not to, -n but not --lines=n fails with -f), but appears to be a dead project.
Cygwin is a big ugly mush, could perhaps just use the DLL and coreutils package - but still has problems like --pid not working with native win32 processes.
DOS has no tail command; you can download a Windows binary for GNU tail and other GNU tools here.
If you do not want to install anything at all you can "build your own" batch file that does the job from standard Windows commands. Here are some pointers as to how to do it.
1) Using find /c /v "" yourinput.file, get the number of lines in your input file. The output is something like:
---------- T.TXT: 15
2) Using for /f, parse this output to get the number 15.
3) Using set /a, calculate the number of head lines that needs to be skipped
4) Using for /f "skip=n" skip the head lines and echo/process the tail lines.
If I find the time, I will build such a batch file and post it back here.
EDIT: tail.bat
REM tail.bat
REM
REM Usage: tail.bat <file> <number-of-lines>
REM
REM Examples: tail.bat myfile.txt 10
REM tail.bat "C:\My File\With\Spaces.txt" 10
@ECHO OFF
for /f "tokens=2-3 delims=:" %%f in ('find /c /v "" %1') do (
for %%F in (%%f %%g) do set nbLines=%%F )
set /a nbSkippedLines=%nbLines%-%2
for /f "usebackq skip=%nbSkippedLines% delims=" %%d in (%1) do echo %%d
Try Windows Services for UNIX. Provides shells, awk, sed, etc. as well as tail.
Update -: Unfortunately, as of 2019 this system is no longer available on the Microsoft Download Center.
If you use PowerShell then this works:
Get-Content filenamehere -Wait -Tail 30
Posting Stefan's comment from below, so people don't miss it
PowerShell 3 introduces a -Tail parameter to include only the last x lines
Source: Stackoverflow.com