GNU bug report logs - #7753
Bug in tail command

Previous Next

To add a comment to this bug, you must first unarchive it, by sending
a message to control AT debbugs.gnu.org, with unarchive 7753 in the body.
You can then email your comments to 7753 AT debbugs.gnu.org in the normal way.

Toggle the display of automated, internal messages from the tracker.

Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Kielbasiewicz, Peter" <peter.kielbasiewicz <at> philips.com>
To: "bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org" <bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Bug in tail command
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 07:56:31 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hello maintainer,

running    tail  +2   on an Ubuntu Box I get the following error:
df | tail +2
tail: cannot open `+2' for reading: No such file or directory

df | tail -lines +2 works OK

I support HP-UX, Redhat and Ubuntu systems and unfortunately the -lines option does not work on my legacy HP-UX systems.

The man page for tail says
       -n, --lines=N
              output the last N lines, instead of the last 10; or  use  +N  to
              output lines starting with the Nth

Here is the version of coreutils which I am running:

#dpkg -s coreutils
Package: coreutils
Essential: yes
Status: install ok installed
Priority: required
Section: utils
Installed-Size: 12988
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss <at> lists.ubuntu.com>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 7.4-2ubuntu3
Replaces: mktemp
Pre-Depends: libacl1 (>= 2.2.11-1), libattr1 (>= 2.4.41-1), libc6 (>= 2.11), libselinux1 (>= 1.32)

regards
  Peter

________________________________
The information contained in this message may be confidential and legally protected under applicable law. The message is intended solely for the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, forwarding, dissemination, or reproduction of this message is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by return e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #10 received at 7753-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: "Kielbasiewicz, Peter" <peter.kielbasiewicz <at> philips.com>
Cc: 7753-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#7753: Bug in tail command
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 23:48:12 -0800

On 12/28/2010 10:56 PM, Kielbasiewicz, Peter wrote:
> df | tail -lines +2 works OK
> 
> I support HP-UX, Redhat and Ubuntu systems and unfortunately
> the -lines option does not work on my legacy HP-UX systems.

This should work, on all systems conforming to POSIX
(which surely HP-UX does):

df | tail -n +2

"tail +2" isn't portable.

Message #13 received at 7753 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bob Proulx <bob <at> proulx.com>
To: "Kielbasiewicz, Peter" <peter.kielbasiewicz <at> philips.com>,
	7753 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#7753: Bug in tail command
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:00:13 -0700

Paul Eggert wrote:
> Kielbasiewicz, Peter wrote:
> > df | tail -lines +2 works OK
> > 
> > I support HP-UX, Redhat and Ubuntu systems and unfortunately
> > the -lines option does not work on my legacy HP-UX systems.
> 
> This should work, on all systems conforming to POSIX
> (which surely HP-UX does):
> 
> df | tail -n +2
> 
> "tail +2" isn't portable.

Additional information is available in the FAQ:

  http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/faq/#Old-tail-plus-N-syntax-now-fails

Bob

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.