
Notepad++ 6.9.2 released (tail -f) - based2
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-6.9.2-released.html
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jquast
Just a reminder that less(1) also does tail -f by pressing the 'F' key,

> Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when the end of file is reached.
> Normally this command would be used when already at the end of the file. It
> is a way to monitor the tail of a file which is growing while it is being
> viewed. (The behavior is similar to the "tail -f" command.)

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haddr
This is why I prefer less to tail. You can do 'F' to have a constantly updated
log, and 'Ctrl-C' to stop updating it when you see something odd and the go
back to the live update with 'F' again. All without exiting less.

~~~
timdorr
For bonus points, you can put in a search ('/' \+ your search phrase), start
tailing with 'F' (by the way, that's a capital F, so shift + F key), and have
it highlight matching strings as stuff streams in. Makes it easy to spot
things if the log is fast-moving.

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badocr
TailBlazer[0] I guess is the most interesting of the "tail -f" apps for
Windows that I've tried. My usage is pretty mundane though, so YMMV.

[0]
[https://github.com/RolandPheasant/TailBlazer](https://github.com/RolandPheasant/TailBlazer)

~~~
Roritharr
This Project is really nicely managed, this closed PR left me with a big smile
on my face. He seems to be really a nice guy:
[https://github.com/RolandPheasant/TailBlazer/pull/105](https://github.com/RolandPheasant/TailBlazer/pull/105)

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AtlasLion
Been using far manager for 12 years as it has this feature even when accessing
files through scp.

Edit: Oh, and loading huge log files is no issue on far manager, unlike any
other editor I have tried.

~~~
krylon
FarManager is great. At work, it is among the first three or four programs I
open when I log in.

~~~
SeriousM
What's the other three apps?

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krylon
In no specific order: Outlook, Firefox, Emacs, mRemoteNG. Also, mmc.exe. And
conEmu. (Windows 7 startup is not a problem, usually. But opening all those
applications and getting the windows in the right positions can get quite
tedious...)

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jobigoud
I've been using BareTail on Windows for years. It's minimalist and does one
thing well. Scroll locks and unlocks intuitively. You can highlight lines with
custom colors based on keywords, super convenient when text is flowing fast.

~~~
based2
I just discovered gLogG:
[http://glogg.bonnefon.org/](http://glogg.bonnefon.org/)

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Roritharr
Why is this trending now, this was released in May.

And if anyone knows how to use this with log files from remote servers this
would make me very happy.

~~~
spapas82
Correct, I remember reading about that feature before a month - although there
already exist a lot of tail like solutions for windows there wasn't any de
facto standard like unix tail, something that I feel will change now with that
notepad++ feature!

For using the tail feature with remote files, have you tried it through the
ftp notepad++ plugin? I'm not in front if my pc right now so I cant test it
myself...

~~~
tpatke
I realize I am biased, but I don't get it. Notepad++ and other tools are not
designed around viewing log files. They are text editors. People use tools
like Notepad++ to view log files because, traditionally, there hasn't been
anything better.

Remote access is a good example. I am actually working right now on getting
tail for remote servers working in [redacted]. FTP tailing a file is a special
feature because you do not want to redownload a 1GB file every 3 seconds. The
idea of a forward read-only file is a special concept. If I am using Notepad++
as a text editor, I want it to download the whole file because there may be
important changes to the beginning of the document. If I am using it as a log
viewer, then I need to provide a special configuration to the FTP agent. Not
impossible, but the overlap in behaviour for the tool can be confusing. The
additional configuration makes it harder when using it as a text editor and
harder when using it as a log viewer. It starts to make the tool less useful
for both tasks.

Now add additional features like grep, merging files, very large files (4
GB+), etc and it becomes clear that Notepad++ is a text editor. It is a
fantastic tool, but not fit for every task.

Disclosure: I am the author of [redacted].

~~~
crispyambulance
You're right. Notepad++ is a more of a general purpose text tool.

I got into the habit of using it to open HUNDREDS of files at the same time
and perform ad-hoc interactive searching and data extraction to prep for
further processing in R.

I've not seen any editor that can work effectively with so many files totaling
a huge size. Would like to try Emacs for this stuff someday but Notepad++
works great and is easy to use.

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kubov
Or you can simply use powershell:

    
    
      Get-Content -Wait -Tail 15 log.txt

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Eun
Finally, not always hitting that Ok button in the alert box.

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AYBABTME
That's quite a weird feature for a text editor. I'm not that familiar with
Windows development, but isn't there such a thing as `tail` or `less`?

~~~
fencepost
There's nothing built-in on Windows, just a wide variety of post-install
options (possibly in the old SFU Unix subsystem, certainly in the new Ubuntu-
based piece, and of course a wide variety of third-party implementations
including both native apps and Cygwin).

This is a bit of creeping featuritis, but since Notepad++ is a good drop-in
replacement/full featured text editor even for non-developers on Windows this
could be considered targeting users who would never actually go looking for a
'tail -f' implementation.

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zerop
Had been using wintail for the same till now.

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Bootvis
On holiday but Log Monitoring for us will be so useful for us I had to share
it with colleagues over WhatsApp.

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grewil2
GNU/Emacs has nice tail-f functionality with its auto-revert-tail-mode.

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smegel
Now for non-modal regex search in file.

~~~
zamalek
Or rather non-modal _everything._ The plugin update modal is beyond
infuriating.

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cocotino
>18 May 2016

