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     TAIL(1)                                                   TAIL(1)

     NAME
          tail - deliver the last part of a file

     SYNOPSIS
          tail [ [+-]number[lbc][rf] ] [ file ]

          tail [ -fr ] [ -n nlines ] [ -c ncharacters ] [ file ]

     DESCRIPTION
          Tail copies the named file to the standard output beginning
          at a designated place.  If no file is named, the standard
          input is copied.

          Copying begins at position +number measured from the begin-
          ning, or -number from the end of the input.  Number is
          counted in lines, 1K blocks or characters, according to the
          appended flag `l', `b', or `c'.  Default is -10l (ten ell).

          The further flag `r' causes tail to print lines from the end
          of the file in reverse order; `f' (follow) causes tail,
          after printing to the end, to keep watch and print further
          data as it appears.

          The second syntax is that promulgated by POSIX, where the
          numbers of lines (-n) or characters (-c) are specified sepa-
          rately as signed integers. Note than an unsigned value is
          treated as negative, ie '-n 2' is equivalent to '-n -2'.

     EXAMPLES
          tail file
               Print the last 10 lines of a file.

          tail +0f file
               Print a file, and continue to watch data accumulate as
               it grows.
               According to custom, option +number counts lines from
               1, and counts blocks and characters from 0.

          tail -nlines +3 file
               Print a file starting at line number 3