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Ian Mackinnon
Asked: 2010-10-08 06:44:12 +0800 CST

How to view the tail of a log file in Windows?

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What's an efficient way to view the last N lines of a large log file in Windows XP?

Would it be possible to then associate this method with .log files when double-clicked in Explorer?

log-files windows-xp file-associations

5 Answers

  1. Have a look at "Tail for Windows". It boasts the following features on their web page:

    A few features of Tail: * Watch multiple files in realtime
    * Detect keyword matches, and highlight occurrences
    * Send mail notifications on keyword matches by SMTP or MAPI
    * Plugin architecture allows you to write specialized handlers
    * Can process files of any size on all types of drive (local or networked)

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  2. The tail.exe from the Windows 2003 Resource Kit is very limited and does not support the same functionality as its Unix/Linux counterpart.

    Check out the UnxUtils. It is native port to Win32 and does not have any external dependenies.

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  3. Tail Ace is the program

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  4. Baretail is quick nice and small

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  5. you could also get the tail.exe from MS themselves: resource kit (shocking I know, but sometimes they do have the right tools, you just have to know where to find them).

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