TAIL(1)				  User Commands				 TAIL(1)

NAME
     tail - output the last part of files

SYNOPSIS
     tail [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
     Print  the	 last  10 lines of each FILE to standard output.  With more than
     one FILE, precede each with a header giving the file name.

     With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

     Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

     -c, --bytes=[+]NUM
	    output the last NUM bytes; or use -c +NUM to  output  starting  with
	    byte NUM of each file

     --debug
	    indicate which --follow implementation is used

     -f, --follow[={name|descriptor}]
	    output  appended  data  as the file grows; an absent option argument
	    means 'descriptor'

     -F	    same as --follow=name --retry

     -n, --lines=[+]NUM
	    output the last NUM lines, instead of the last 10; or use -n +NUM to
	    skip NUM-1 lines at the start

     --max-unchanged-stats=N
	    with --follow=name, reopen a FILE which has not changed size after N
	    (default 5) iterations to see if it has  been  unlinked  or	 renamed
	    (this  is  the  usual case of rotated log files); with inotify, this
	    option is rarely useful

     --pid=PID
	    with -f, exit after PID no longer exists; can be repeated  to  watch
	    multiple processes

     -q, --quiet, --silent
	    never output headers giving file names

     --retry
	    keep trying to open a file if it is inaccessible

     -s, --sleep-interval=N
	    with -f, sleep for approximately N seconds (default 1.0) between it-
	    erations;  with  inotify  and --pid=P, check process P at least once
	    every N seconds

     -v, --verbose
	    always output headers giving file names

     -z, --zero-terminated
	    line delimiter is NUL, not newline

     --help
	    display this help and exit

     --version
	    output version information and exit

     NUM may have a multiplier suffix: b 512, kB 1000, K 1024, MB  1000*1000,  M
     1024*1024,	 GB  1000*1000*1000, G 1024*1024*1024, and so on for T, P, E, Z,
     Y, R, Q.  Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on.

     With --follow (-f), tail defaults to following the file  descriptor,  which
     means  that  even if a tail'ed file is renamed, tail will continue to track
     its end.  This default behavior is not desirable when you	really	want  to
     track the actual name of the file, not the file descriptor (e.g., log rota-
     tion).   Use  --follow=name  in  that  case.  That causes tail to track the
     named file in a way that accommodates renaming, removal and creation.

AUTHOR
     Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Ian Lance Taylor, and Jim Meyering.

REPORTING BUGS
     Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
     GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
     General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
     Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright (C) 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.	License GPLv3+: GNU  GPL
     version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
     This  is  free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There
     is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
     head(1)

     Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/tail>
     or available locally via: info '(coreutils) tail invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.11		   April 2026				 TAIL(1)