Home / ubuntu / Questions / 31623
Accepted
aneuryzm
Asked: 2011-03-24 02:28:56 +0800 CST

issues to inspect a long text file

  • 772

If I run

sudo pico /var/log/lighttpd/website/error.log

I get a very long file, and I cannot see last lines. If I run:

sudo tail -f /var/log/lighttpd/website/error.log | awk '{print $1 "--"  $2}'

I don't get anything ? What am I doing wrong ?

Also, how can I move to a specific line using pico editor ?

thanks

editor

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Using nano for logfiles is not recommended as it loads the whole file into the memory. Use less:

    less /var/log/lighttpd/website/error.log

    Press F to get the effect from tail -f.

    • 2

  2. If you want to read only the last lines of the log use tail -aNumber /var/log/lighttpd/website/error.log

    Replacing aNumber with the number of lines you want to see.

    If you want to see the whole file use vi /var/log/lighttpd/website/error.log you could also use nano, it´s easier...

    • 0