TAIL(1)			 HP-UX 5.0		       TAIL(1)

     NAME
	  tail - deliver the last part of a file

     SYNOPSIS
	  tail [ _[number][lbc[f] ] ] [ file ]

     HP-UX COMPATIBILITY
	  Level:    HP-UX/STANDARD

	  Origin:   System V

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

	  Copying begins at distance +number from  the	beginning,  or
	  -number  from	 the  end of the input (if number is null, the
	  value 10 is assumed).	 Number is counted in units of	lines,
	  blocks,  or  characters, according to the appended option l,
	  b, or c.  When no units are specified, counting is by lines.

	  With the -f (``follow'') option, if the input file is not  a
	  pipe,	 the  program will not terminate after the line of the
	  input file has been copied, but will enter an endless	 loop,
	  wherein it sleeps for a second and then attempts to read and
	  copy further records from the input file.  Thus  it  may  be
	  used	to  monitor the growth of a file that is being written
	  by some other process.

     EXAMPLES
	  Tail accepts at most two arguments: the  first  consists  of
	  specified  options,  and  the	 second	 specifies the file of
	  interest.  If the number and f  options  are	both  desired,
	  they	 must  be  concatenated	 to  create  a	single	option
	  argument, as follows:

	       tail -3lf john

	  This example prints the last three lines in the file john to
	  the standard output, and leaves tail in "follow" mode.

	  If only the f option is desired, it must be preceded by a -,
	  as follows:
	       tail -f fred

	  This example prints the last ten lines  of  the  file	 fred,
	  followed  by any lines that are appended to fred between the
	  time tail is initiated and killed.  Note  that  this	output
	  may  build up very quickly for rapidly changing input files,
	  perhaps too fast to read on a CRT.
	  As another example, the command:
	       tail -15cf fred

	  will print the last 15 characters of the file fred, followed
	  by any lines that are appended to fred between the time tail
	  is initiated and killed.

	  The +	 option	 starts	 at  the  number  indicated  from  the
	  beginning  of	 the  file (rather than skipping the number of
	  units indicated and then starting).  For example:
	       tail +1b fred

	  prints the entire contents of the file fred.

     SEE ALSO
	  head(1).

     BUGS
	  Tails relative to the end  of	 the  file  are	 stored	 in  a
	  buffer,  and	thus  are limited in length.  Thus, be wary of
	  the results when piping  output  from	 other	commands  into
	  tail.

	  Various  kinds  of  anomalous	 behavior  may	 happen	  with
	  character special files.

	  Tail can pick up a maximum of 4K  bytes  of  data  from  the
	  specified file.