XTAIL(1L) XTAIL(1L) NAME xtail - Watch the growth of files. SYNTAX xtail entry ... DESCRIPTION Xtail monitors one or more files, and displays all data written to a file since command invocation. It is very useful for monitoring multiple log- files simultaneously. If an entry given on the command line is a directory, all files in that di- rectory will be monitored, including those created after the xtail invoca- tion. If an entry given on the command line doesn't exist, xtail will watch for it and monitor it once created. When switching files in the dis- play, a banner showing the pathname of the file is printed. An interrupt character (usually CTRL/C or DEL) will display a list of the most recently modified files being watched. Send a quit signal (usually CTRL/backslash) to stop xtail. SEE ALSO tail(1) NOTES Xtail may be easily confused. For example, if a file is renamed, xtail may or may not continue to monitor it. If you ask it to monitor a file multi- ple times, it probably will. If you misspell a filename, xtail will treat it as a nonexistent entry and happily wait for its creation. My favorite use is "xtail /usr/spool/uucp/.Log/*". AUTHOR Chip Rosenthal <chip@unicom.com> XTAIL(1L)
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