Updated December 2012
TAIL {outfile=} <wildspec> {/switches}
The TAIL command is similar to the eponymous UNIX command and is used to display or copy to another file the last N lines of a specified file (or wildcard list of files).
Switches
|
Switch |
Effect of Switch |
|
/D |
The delete switch causes TAIL to overwrite the existing outspec. |
|
L:## |
The lines switch causes TAIL to display or copy ## lines. The default is 20. As of A-Shell 1264, TAIL supports a UNIX-inspired variation of the /L:# switch, i.e. /L:+#, which causes the display/output to start at specified line #, rather than starting that many lines from the end. For example: .TAIL MYFILE.LST/L:+2 displays the entire file except for the first line. This can be useful for removing the first N lines from a file. For example, to remove the first line of a file, you could use the following command: .TAIL MYFILE.LST = MYFILE.LST/L:+2/D |
|
/Q |
The query switch causes TAIL to prompt for confirmation on each file. |
|
/? |
Writes switch listing and usage info to the screen. |
See the notes on HEAD for examples.
History
2022 June, A-Shell 6.5.1717, TAIL.LIT 3.4(107): Updated to fix a very old bug which would result in the directory listing being duplicated if there were consecutive DEVICE statements for the same device—i.e. one normal DEVICE definition and one or more PPN-specific definitions.
2012 December, A-Shell 1264: Add support for the /L:+# variation on the "L" switch, as noted above.