TAIL(1) General Commands Manual TAIL(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

tail - Print the last 10 lines of each FILE to standard output. With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving the file name. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**tail** \[OPTION]... \[FILE]...

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Print the last 10 lines of each FILE to standard output. With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving the file name. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

[**-c**, **--bytes**](#c)

Number of bytes to print

[**-f**, **--follow**](#f)

Print the file as it grows

*Possible values:*

- descriptor
- name

[**-n**, **--lines**](#n)

Number of lines to print

[**--pid** *<PID>*](#pid)

With -f, terminate after process ID, PID dies

[**-q**, **--quiet**](#q)

Never output headers giving file names

[**-s**, **--sleep-interval** *<N>*](#s)

Number of seconds to sleep between polling the file when running with -f

[**--max-unchanged-stats** *<N>*](#max)

Reopen a FILE which has not changed size after N (default 5) iterations to see if it has been unlinked or renamed (this is the usual case of rotated log files); This option is meaningful only when polling (i.e., with --use-polling) and when --follow=name

[**-v**, **--verbose**](#v)

Always output headers giving file names

[**-z**, **--zero-terminated**](#z)

Line delimiter is NUL, not newline

[**--use-polling**](#use)

Disable 'inotify' support and use polling instead

[**--retry**](#retry)

Keep trying to open a file if it is inaccessible

[**-F**](#F)

Same as --follow=name --retry

[**--debug**](#debug)

indicate which --follow implementation is used

[**-h**, **--help**](#h)

Print help

[**-V**, **--version**](#V)

Print version

\[*files*]

# [VERSION](#VERSION)

v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0

2026-10-29

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Document: tail(1) from uutils 0.12.0-r5 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/uutils/coreutils