I want to grab data from this kind of log.
Nov 12 13:46:14 Home cxxd[8892]: 208 11/12 13:46:14| qc=IN (1), qt=A (1), query="www.yahoo.com."
Implemented this which gives me the URL. But does not work with "TAIL -F" so that I could monitor live just the urls.
tail -100 /var/log/system.log | grep "query=" | sed -e "s/.*query=//" | sed -e "s/\"//g" | sed -e "s/.$/ /"
Please suggest or enhance
I expect your multiple sed scripts do work with tail -F output, just not as you expect.
The C standard IO libraries will perform buffering to improve performance. The IO library can do (a) no buffering (b) line-buffering (c) block-buffering. The line-buffering is normally chosen if the output is going to a terminal. But if the output is going to a file or pipe, then block buffering is normally chosen. (It's more complicated than this -- the behavior changes if the file descriptor in question is being used for stdout or stderr or another file. See setvbuf(3) for full details.)
So, while the block-buffering you're seeing now is probably better for performance, it does mean you can wait a while before ever seeing any output, as each command will eventually accumulate a block of data. At least grep(1) allows the --line-buffered command line option to use line-buffering -- and sed(1) allows the --unbuffered command line option to flush output buffers more often. So try this:
tail -f /var/log/system.log | grep --line-buffered "query=" | sed -u -e "s/.*query=//" | sed -u -e "s/\"//g" | sed -u -e "s/.$/ /"
(I didn't find any similar options for tail(1), but even if it sends blocks of data to the others, the changes to grep(1) and sed(1) will drastically help.)
Try reducing the number of pipes by replacing multiple calls to grep and sed to one with awk:
tail -f /var/log/system.log | awk -F'=' '/query=/ { sub(/^"/, "", $NF); sub(/."$/, "", $NF); print $NF }'
...which takes every line matching "query=" and grabs everything after the last '=', replaces the first '"' and the trailing '."' and prints the result.
Try the tail -f and grep argument --line-buffered
Related
I'm trying to run
fswatch -tr /home/*/*/public_html | grep --line-buffered -E ".php|.xml" | awk '!seen[$0]++' >> log.txt
or equivalently (by using uniq):
stdbuf -i0 -o0 -e0 fswatch -tr /home/*/*/public_html | grep --line-buffered -E ".php|.xml" | uniq >> log.txt
So that I don't get duplicate rows. It works just fine in the terminal, with standard output, however when I'm trying to write that output to log.txt, the file is blank (or no new rows are inserted if using >>).
fswatch is a command that "monitors" changes to the filesystem in real time, and it generates a lot of duplicate events and uniq seems to address that just fine.
Any ideas why the output redirection doesn't work?
awk and uniq are going to buffer their output when writing to a regular file. You can get unbuffered behavior with perl:
... | perl -ne '$|=1; print unless ${$_}++'
That is the perl equivalent of awk '!seen[$0]++', but setting $| non-zero makes the output unbuffered. To be more correct you should probably write BEGIN{$|=1} so you're not making the assignment on every line of input, but it's not really necessary.
formatting didn't look right in comment, so simply re-pasting it for clarity :
mawk '!__[$_]--{ print; fflush() }'
I'm trying to make a shell script to monitor a log file, but I have a problem which is I can't do two tail at the same time.
the script basically is to search for a word if it matches it will redirect the 3 lines include the matched word into a file then I will pruning the useless information to extract what I want.
I tried the commands below and it's working fine but when I mirage it in a file it doesn't work
please advise :)
below is a part of the script,
#!/bin/bash
#grep error log
tail -f /FileLogging.log | grep 'error' >>/home/hello/tech.txt
#pruning useless information
tail -f /home/hello/tech.txt perl -nle "print $1 if /sam-(.+?)\",\"jack/" >>/home/hello/non.txt
Now I detected, the there only one source is watched. So this command should combine both of your example:
tail -f /FileLogging.log | grep 'error' | tee -a /home/hello/tech.txt | perl ... >>/home/hello/non.txt
Is that possible to use grep on a continuous stream?
What I mean is sort of a tail -f <file> command, but with grep on the output in order to keep only the lines that interest me.
I've tried tail -f <file> | grep pattern but it seems that grep can only be executed once tail finishes, that is to say never.
Turn on grep's line buffering mode when using BSD grep (FreeBSD, Mac OS X etc.)
tail -f file | grep --line-buffered my_pattern
It looks like a while ago --line-buffered didn't matter for GNU grep (used on pretty much any Linux) as it flushed by default (YMMV for other Unix-likes such as SmartOS, AIX or QNX). However, as of November 2020, --line-buffered is needed (at least with GNU grep 3.5 in openSUSE, but it seems generally needed based on comments below).
I use the tail -f <file> | grep <pattern> all the time.
It will wait till grep flushes, not till it finishes (I'm using Ubuntu).
I think that your problem is that grep uses some output buffering. Try
tail -f file | stdbuf -o0 grep my_pattern
it will set output buffering mode of grep to unbuffered.
If you want to find matches in the entire file (not just the tail), and you want it to sit and wait for any new matches, this works nicely:
tail -c +0 -f <file> | grep --line-buffered <pattern>
The -c +0 flag says that the output should start 0 bytes (-c) from the beginning (+) of the file.
In most cases, you can tail -f /var/log/some.log |grep foo and it will work just fine.
If you need to use multiple greps on a running log file and you find that you get no output, you may need to stick the --line-buffered switch into your middle grep(s), like so:
tail -f /var/log/some.log | grep --line-buffered foo | grep bar
you may consider this answer as enhancement .. usually I am using
tail -F <fileName> | grep --line-buffered <pattern> -A 3 -B 5
-F is better in case of file rotate (-f will not work properly if file rotated)
-A and -B is useful to get lines just before and after the pattern occurrence .. these blocks will appeared between dashed line separators
But For me I prefer doing the following
tail -F <file> | less
this is very useful if you want to search inside streamed logs. I mean go back and forward and look deeply
Didn't see anyone offer my usual go-to for this:
less +F <file>
ctrl + c
/<search term>
<enter>
shift + f
I prefer this, because you can use ctrl + c to stop and navigate through the file whenever, and then just hit shift + f to return to the live, streaming search.
sed would be a better choice (stream editor)
tail -n0 -f <file> | sed -n '/search string/p'
and then if you wanted the tail command to exit once you found a particular string:
tail --pid=$(($BASHPID+1)) -n0 -f <file> | sed -n '/search string/{p; q}'
Obviously a bashism: $BASHPID will be the process id of the tail command. The sed command is next after tail in the pipe, so the sed process id will be $BASHPID+1.
Yes, this will actually work just fine. Grep and most Unix commands operate on streams one line at a time. Each line that comes out of tail will be analyzed and passed on if it matches.
This one command workes for me (Suse):
mail-srv:/var/log # tail -f /var/log/mail.info |grep --line-buffered LOGIN >> logins_to_mail
collecting logins to mail service
Coming some late on this question, considering this kind of work as an important part of monitoring job, here is my (not so short) answer...
Following logs using bash
1. Command tail
This command is a little more porewfull than read on already published answer
Difference between follow option tail -f and tail -F, from manpage:
-f, --follow[={name|descriptor}]
output appended data as the file grows;
...
-F same as --follow=name --retry
...
--retry
keep trying to open a file if it is inaccessible
This mean: by using -F instead of -f, tail will re-open file(s) when removed (on log rotation, for sample).
This is usefull for watching logfile over many days.
Ability of following more than one file simultaneously
I've already used:
tail -F /var/www/clients/client*/web*/log/{error,access}.log /var/log/{mail,auth}.log \
/var/log/apache2/{,ssl_,other_vhosts_}access.log \
/var/log/pure-ftpd/transfer.log
For following events through hundreds of files... (consider rest of this answer to understand how to make it readable... ;)
Using switches -n (Don't use -c for line buffering!).By default tail will show 10 last lines. This can be tunned:
tail -n 0 -F file
Will follow file, but only new lines will be printed
tail -n +0 -F file
Will print whole file before following his progression.
2. Buffer issues when piping:
If you plan to filter ouptuts, consider buffering! See -u option for sed, --line-buffered for grep, or stdbuf command:
tail -F /some/files | sed -une '/Regular Expression/p'
Is (a lot more efficient than using grep) a lot more reactive than if you does'nt use -u switch in sed command.
tail -F /some/files |
sed -une '/Regular Expression/p' |
stdbuf -i0 -o0 tee /some/resultfile
3. Recent journaling system
On recent system, instead of tail -f /var/log/syslog you have to run journalctl -xf, in near same way...
journalctl -axf | sed -une '/Regular Expression/p'
But read man page, this tool was built for log analyses!
4. Integrating this in a bash script
Colored output of two files (or more)
Here is a sample of script watching for many files, coloring ouptut differently for 1st file than others:
#!/bin/bash
tail -F "$#" |
sed -une "
/^==> /{h;};
//!{
G;
s/^\\(.*\\)\\n==>.*${1//\//\\\/}.*<==/\\o33[47m\\1\\o33[0m/;
s/^\\(.*\\)\\n==> .* <==/\\o33[47;31m\\1\\o33[0m/;
p;}"
They work fine on my host, running:
sudo ./myColoredTail /var/log/{kern.,sys}log
Interactive script
You may be watching logs for reacting on events?
Here is a little script playing some sound when some USB device appear or disappear, but same script could send mail, or any other interaction, like powering on coffe machine...
#!/bin/bash
exec {tailF}< <(tail -F /var/log/kern.log)
tailPid=$!
while :;do
read -rsn 1 -t .3 keyboard
[ "${keyboard,}" = "q" ] && break
if read -ru $tailF -t 0 _ ;then
read -ru $tailF line
case $line in
*New\ USB\ device\ found* ) play /some/sound.ogg ;;
*USB\ disconnect* ) play /some/othersound.ogg ;;
esac
printf "\r%s\e[K" "$line"
fi
done
echo
exec {tailF}<&-
kill $tailPid
You could quit by pressing Q key.
you certainly won't succeed with
tail -f /var/log/foo.log |grep --line-buffered string2search
when you use "colortail" as an alias for tail, eg. in bash
alias tail='colortail -n 30'
you can check by
type alias
if this outputs something like
tail isan alias of colortail -n 30.
then you have your culprit :)
Solution:
remove the alias with
unalias tail
ensure that you're using the 'real' tail binary by this command
type tail
which should output something like:
tail is /usr/bin/tail
and then you can run your command
tail -f foo.log |grep --line-buffered something
Good luck.
Use awk(another great bash utility) instead of grep where you dont have the line buffered option! It will continuously stream your data from tail.
this is how you use grep
tail -f <file> | grep pattern
This is how you would use awk
tail -f <file> | awk '/pattern/{print $0}'
I have been trying to get the head utility to display all but the last line of standard input. The actual code that I needed is something along the lines of cat myfile.txt | head -n $(($(wc -l)-1)). But that didn't work. I'm doing this on Darwin/OS X which doesn't have the nice semantics of head -n -1 that would have gotten me similar output.
None of these variations work either.
cat myfile.txt | head -n $(wc -l | sed -E -e 's/\s//g')
echo "hello" | head -n $(wc -l | sed -E -e 's/\s//g')
I tested out more variations and in particular found this to work:
cat <<EOF | echo $(($(wc -l)-1))
>Hola
>Raul
>Como Esta
>Bueno?
>EOF
3
Here's something simpler that also works.
echo "hello world" | echo $(($(wc -w)+10))
This one understandably gives me an illegal line count error. But it at least tells me that the head program is not consuming the standard input before passing stuff on to the subshell/command substitution, a remote possibility, but one that I wanted to rule out anyway.
echo "hello" | head -n $(cat && echo 1)
What explains the behavior of head and wc and their interaction through subshells here? Thanks for your help.
head -n -1 will give you all except the last line of its input.
head is the wrong tool. If you want to see all but the last line, use:
sed \$d
The reason that
# Sample of incorrect code:
echo "hello" | head -n $(wc -l | sed -E -e 's/\s//g')
fails is that wc consumes all of the input and there is nothing left for head to see. wc inherits its stdin from the subshell in which it is running, which is reading from the output of the echo. Once it consumes the input, it returns and then head tries to read the data...but it is all gone. If you want to read the input twice, the data will have to be saved somewhere.
Using sed:
sed '$d' filename
will delete the last line of the file.
$ seq 1 10 | sed '$d'
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
For Mac OS X specifically, I found an answer from a comment to this Q&A.
Assuming you are using Homebrew, run brew install coreutils then use the ghead command:
cat myfile.txt | ghead -n -1
Or, equivalently:
ghead -n -1 myfile.txt
Lastly, see brew info coreutils if you'd like to use the commands without the g prefix (e.g., head instead of ghead).
cat myfile.txt | echo $(($(wc -l)-1))
This works. It's overly complicated: you could just write echo $(($(wc -l)-1)) <myfile.txt or echo $(($(wc -l <myfile.txt)-1)). The problem is the way you're using it.
cat myfile.txt | head -n $(wc -l | sed -E -e 's/\s//g')
wc consumes all the input as it's counting the lines. So there is no data left to read in the pipe by the time head is started.
If your input comes from a file, you can redirect both wc and head from that file.
head -n $(($(wc -l <myfile.txt) - 1)) <myfile.txt
If your data may come from a pipe, you need to duplicate it. The usual tool to duplicate a stream is tee, but that isn't enough here, because the two outputs from tee are produced at the same rate, whereas here wc needs to fully consume its output before head can start. So instead, you'll need to use a single tool that can detect the last line, which is a more efficient approach anyway.
Conveniently, sed offers a way of matching the last line. Either printing all lines but the last, or suppressing the last output line, will work:
sed -n '$! p'
sed '$ d'
Here is a one-liner that can get you the desired output, and it can be used more generally for getting all lines from a file except the last n lines.
grep -n "" myfile.txt \ # output the line number for each line
| sort -nr \ # reverse the file by using those line numbers
| sed '1,4d' \ # delete first 4 lines (last 4 of the original file)
| sort -n \ # reverse the reversed file (correct the line order)
| sed 's/^[0-9]*://' # remove the added line numbers
Here is the above command in an actual single line and runnable (can't execute the above due to the added comments):
grep -n "" myfile.txt | sort -nr | sed '1,4d' | sort -n | sed 's/^[0-9]*://'
It's a little cumbersome, and this problem can be solved with more comprehensive commands like ghead, but when you can't or don't want to download such tools, it's nice to be able to do this with the more basic options. I've been in situations where it's simply not an option to get better tools.
awk 'NR>1{print p}{p=$0}'
For this job, an awk one-liner is a bit longer than a sed one.
I am using 'tail -f' to follow a log file as it's updated; next I pipe the output of that to grep to show only the lines containing a search term ("org.springframework" in this case); finally I'd like to make is piping the output from grep to a third command, 'cut':
tail -f logfile | grep org.springframework | cut -c 25-
The cut command would remove the first 25 characters of each line for me if it could get the input from grep! (It works as expected if I eliminate 'grep' from the chain.)
I'm using cygwin with bash.
Actual results: When I add the second pipe to connect to the 'cut' command, the result is that it hangs, as if it's waiting for input (in case you were wondering).
Assuming GNU grep, add --line-buffered to your command line, eg.
tail -f logfile | grep --line-buffered org.springframework | cut -c 25-
Edit:
I see grep buffering isn't the only problem here, as cut doesn't allow linewise buffering.
you might want to try replacing it with something you can control, such as sed:
tail -f logfile | sed -u -n -e '/org\.springframework/ s/\(.\{0,25\}\).*$/\1/p'
or awk
tail -f logfile | awk '/org\.springframework/ {print substr($0, 0, 25);fflush("")}'
On my system, about 8K was buffered before I got any output. This sequence worked to follow the file immediately:
tail -f logfile | while read line ; do echo "$line"| grep 'org.springframework'|cut -c 25- ; done
What you have should work fine -- that's the whole idea of pipelines. The only problem I see is that, in the version of cut I have (GNU coreutiles 6.10), you should use the syntax cut -c 25- (i.e. use a minus sign instead of a plus sign) to remove the first 24 characters.
You're also searching for different patterns in your two examples, in case that's relevant.