$Id: xtail.1,v 2.2 1996/06/25 00:31:15 chip Exp $
xtail - Watch the growth of files. xtail entry ... Xtail monitors one or more files, and displays all data written to a file since command invocation. It is very useful for monitoring multiple logfiles simultaneously.

If an entry given on the command line is a directory, all files in that directory will be monitored, including those created after the xtail invocation. 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 display, 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 .

tail(1) 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 multiple 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/*".

Chip Rosenthal <chip@unicom.com>