NACSE - Unix: The Tail Command

6.C: The view Command 6: Viewing 6.A: The more and cat Commands

§ 6.B: The Tail Command

The tail command writes the last lines of a file to the screen. For example, try:

> tail area.f

Unix should respond with something like:

       A = pi * r**2  
c      write area onto terminal screen   
       Write(*, 10) 'radius r =', r, ' A =', A  
10     Format(a20, f10.5, a15, f12.7)   
       STOP 'area'  
       END

If the tail command is given the option -n, then it starts n lines from the bottom of the file. If it is given the option +n, it starts n lines from the top. Try it:

> tail -5 area.f

> tail +5 area.f

6.C: The view Command 6: Viewing 6.A: The more and cat Commands

Comments and questions to Dr. Elias N. Houstis at enh@cs.purdue.edu.