MultiTail 4.2.0 review
DownloadMultiTail lets you view one or multiple files like the original tail program
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MultiTail lets you view one or multiple files like the original tail program. The difference is that it creates multiple windows on your console (with ncurses). It can also monitor wildcards: if another file matching the wildcard has a more recent modification date, it will automatically switch to that file.
That way you can, for example, monitor a complete directory of files. Merging of 2 or even more logfiles is possible. It can also use colors while displaying the logfiles (through regular expressions), for faster recognition of what is important and what not. It can also filter lines (again with regular expressions).
MultiTail has interactive menus for editing given regular expressions and deleting and adding windows. One can also have windows with the output of shell scripts and other software. When viewing the output of external software, MultiTail can mimic the functionality of tools like 'watch' and such.
Here are some key features of "MultiTail":
Display logfiles
More then one in multiple windows
Terminal window is not only horizontally divided, also vertical is possible
Height/width of the windows can be set
Windows can be swapped and closed
New windows can be created
The fileselector has "TAB-completion"
Windows can be temporarily hidden
Multiple logfiles can be merged into one window
Logfiles can be filtered with the help of one or more regular expressions
Certain lines can be suppressed -or- everything is supressed instead of what matches with the regular expressions
An external tool can be executed when a regular expression matches
The screen can flash or a beep can be heard when a regular expression matches
Certain parts of the logfiles can be highlighted via colors.
Selections with regular expressions.
Selection on field-number/string offset
Colorschemes can be defined in a configurationfile. A couple of examples have been included
Default colorscheme for certain files can be selected in the configurationfile (using regular expressions (NOT wildcards!))
Use of colors can be switched off
When a file has changed, the statusline (each logfilewindow has a statusline) is updated to show the new size and the timestamp of the change ('atime')
Statusline can be switched off
A message can be shown when the current user has new mail
Instead of the filename/commandline a more descriptive text can be put in the statusline
A statusline in the xterm titlebar can be shown:
Current user
Current hostname
Name of changed file
Timestamp of change
System load
"new mail" indicator
The initial number of lines read can be set
Instead of the descriptor also the filename can be followed (usefull for situations where "mv log log.old" is done after which a new file 'log' is created)
It can also monitor wildcards: if another file matching the wildcard has a more recent modification date, it will automatically switch to that file. That way you can, for example, monitor a complete directory of files.
Not only logfiles, also external programs can be viewed (e.g. the output of netstat)
Programs can be automatically restarted (like the 'watch' program)
Restart interval can be set
The difference since the previous run can be displayed (instead of everything)
Output can be merged with the output of other programs
Output can be merged with logfiles
Output can be colored: see 'logfiles'-section
Output can be filtered: see 'logfiles'-section
A statusbar can be shown: see 'logfiles'-section
One can type in the window of a program, like the 'splitvt' program
One can scrollback in a window
All text (including that of the scrollbackbuffer) can be stored in a file
Size of scrollbackbuffer can be set
A searchfunction is included (also with regular expressions!)
A mark can be set so that one can easily see what is new
The width of a tab can be set
For lines longer then the width of a window, one can set what to be shown:
The complete line
Only the left part
Only the right part
A configurable offset
In case of a 'syslog'-style logfile;
Everything after the date/time
Everything after the date/time without the procname
Update frequency of the display can be set (default: immediately), usefull for slow links
Some statistics can be shown (update frequency, tendency of the update frequency)
Bind external programs to keys. For example: one can let MultiTail execute /usr/bin/pine when CTRL+G is pressed. That way MultiTail can act as a central command center.
Has context-sensitive on-line help (press F1 at any time)
What's New in This Release:
One can now search in all windows, and results will be displayed in a new window. "tai64" timestamps (as used by qmail) can now be converted to something readable.
A default set of filters can be put in a configuration file.
Several other enhancements, bugfixes, and performance optimizations were done.
MultiTail 4.2.0 keywords