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tail -f path

The above will output modifications to the file instantly, but I want to apply a filter to the output, only show when there is a keyword xxx in it.

How to approach this?

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2 Answers

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With Unix you can pipe the output of oone program into another.

So to filter tail, you can use grep

tail -f path | grep xxx

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But let's say you have 100 lines in the tail (end of the file), and these lines are the ones you want to filter. Your solution – Sergio Oliveira Jr. Nov 7 '11 at 15:12
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If you only want to search the last 100 lines of a file try tail -100 path | grep xxx – AddersUK Nov 25 '11 at 23:19
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up vote 1 down vote

and you can use multiple pipes and greps, and exclude things with grep -v, get case insensitivity with grep -i, etc.

i.e.: tail -100f /var/log/messages | grep -V ACPI | grep -i ata

start tailing 100 lines from the end, and keep tailing, first exclude any lines with ACPI, then show lines with ata, ATA, or any mix of those.

Another handy one is the ABC options, for the lines After, Before, and Context (lines before and after).

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