Anybody in the know of a viewer (or Notepad++ plugin) that can read txt files in a streaming way? I would like to see for example the last 10 lines of a txt file that gets appended continiously.
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Related: [Log viewer on Windows](http://superuser.com/questions/153/log-viewer-on-windows) – Piotr Dobrogost Sep 30 '12 at 20:33
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Tail for Win32 is a simple open-source program I've been using for a couple of years already.
Notepad++ can actually do it out of the box.
From within Notepad++: Settings > Preferences > MISC.
From there, you can check "Update silently" and "Scroll to the last line after update" in the group "File Status Auto-Detection"
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11The problem with using Notepad++ for this is that (at least in version 5.3.1) it doesn't update the display in the background - it must have focus for the updating to occur. Plus, all of your documents (tabs) must work the same way, either tailing or not. Obviously much better than nothing if you find yourself on a system with Notepad++ but no other tail utility, but IMO not as good as a true tailer. – Eric Pohl Dec 16 '09 at 15:08
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2Actually you need a plugin for Notepad ++ (see http://www.stackify.com/11-ways-to-tail-a-log-file-on-windows-unix/)... Plus it still doesn't work if your log is generated from command line (e.g. in `bat` file). Tail also doesn't work. – Nux Jul 17 '14 at 09:47
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Here is a tool that works for redirected output https://github.com/Eccenux/Tail.py – Nux Jul 17 '14 at 10:04
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5Notepad++ now has another way to accomplish this: View > Monitoring (tail -f) – jhhwilliams May 11 '18 at 06:33
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The "tail -f" option has horrible performance if the logfile is frequently written into. There are better tools. – Jan Jun 04 '20 at 12:54
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The Notepad++ plugin you're looking for is Document Monitor. However, if you notice that Notepad++ freezes unpredictably, causing you to lose unsaved changes, then this plugin may be the culprit, as it is known to be unstable. See http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/10/17/be-cautious-with-notepad/
Also look at other threads on tailing documents on Windows:
Community
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1To those reading: This plugin seems to cause all of the tabs to work the same, so it monitors all tabs and not just one that you choose. For me at least that makes this plugin not usable. – Joel Peltonen Nov 01 '13 at 08:53
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in other word... Best tail (log file visualization) freeware tool ? , no ?
The solution in that question was: Baretail
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I use this too. baretail is a standalone exe file which you can drop on any machine and run without installing. – BraveNewMath Dec 23 '15 at 01:26
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Baretail is good for monitoring file changes and searching for log lines. But, when it comes to searching for specific words it fails. It will find the line where the word is present but you have to find the word yourself. Notepad++ is much stronger here as you simply just double-click on the word you are looking for. – 7heViking Feb 26 '16 at 07:29
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A great tool with tailing, highlighting, filtering, columnizing and a rudimentary Eclipse integration is Log Expert. Also has a SDK and is free for both non-commercial and commercial use.
desolat
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Should try Lister with Logtail_plugin.wlx / logViewer.wlx plugin. http://www.ghisler.com/lister/
Jakub
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1While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. – mbinette Dec 04 '12 at 21:05
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You can tail log files using Apache's Chainsaw by configuring Chainsaw with a LogFilePatternReceiver. See the Welcome tab for an example configuration file.
Scott
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In UNIX, tail -f . In Windows? Don't know. The Cygnus tools probably have the tail command as well.
bog
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I know, at my last job we did it with the tail-f, but i'm a .net'r now ;) – Boris Callens Oct 15 '08 at 14:50