Linux, UNIX

bash-3.00$ groups oinstall dba

bash-3.00# cat -n g | head -5 1 root console Apr 26 18:52 (:0) 2 root pts/3 Apr 26 18:53 (:0.0) 3 root pts/4 Apr 27 00:09 (:0.0) 4 .: 5 fi bash-3.00# cat -n g | head -5 | tail -1 5 fi bash-3.00# cat -n g | tail +5 | head -1 5 fi $ less +F production.log Important log information here Waiting for data... ( interrupt to abort ) When not to use less When you need to watch multiple files at the same time,  tail -f  can actually give you a better output. It will show you something like this: $ tail -f * .txt ==> file1.txt < == content for first file ==> file2.txt < == content for second file ==> file3.txt < == content for third file When a change happens, it prints the file name and the new content, which is quite handy. With  less , it would be like this: $ less +F * .txt content for first file It shows the content of just one file at a time. If you want to see what’s