Linux multitail

Multitail allows to view many logs in multi window terminal.

Install

sudo apt-get install multitail

Key bindings

• u select full size window; hide all windows except the one selected, cannot scroll
• U back to multi-window view; un-hide all windows
• b select a window to preview in a pop-up window, you can scroll
• G select window to dump to a file
• d delete window
• m limit of lines to display, equivalent eg. tail -500
• q exit
• ctrl + g cancel /or return /or exit

Cheatsheet

while the program runs

r Redraws the screen.
q x	Exit the program.
0...9	Add a thick red line to window 0...9.  e Edit the regular
	expression for a window. First you have to enter the window-
	number (look at the status-line; just before the filename) and
	then you can edit the regular expression for that window. Empty
	the line to delete the regular expression.
d	Delete a window
a	Add a window
s	Swap the positions of 2 windows
v	Toggle vertical screen split
z	Hide/unhide window
c	Set colors
w	Write script for restarting MultiTail.
m	Set marker
n	Delete a marker
b	Scroll back (and forth)
p	q
i	Info

"scroll back"-menu

x q	Exit this screen.
f /	Search for a string. You can enter a regular expression or just the string to search for.
n	Search next instance, see f and /
e	Edit regular expression (filter) for displaying.
s	Save buffered lines to file.

command line options

-i	Input file
-I	Same as -i but add the output to the previous window (so the output is merged).
-l	Command to execute in a window. Parameter is the command. Double quotes for args
-L	Same as -l but add the output to the previous window (so the output is merged).
-r interval		Restart the command (started with -l/-L) after it has exited.
-R interval		With interval you can set how long to sleep before restarting.
		Same as -r, only with this one only the difference is displayed.
-f	Follow the following filename, not the descriptor.
-e	Use the next regular expression on the following file.
-ec	Use regular expression on the following file and display the matches.
-eC	Use regular expression on the following file but display everything and display the matches inverted.
-E	Use the next regular expression on the following files.
-v	Negate the next regular expression.
-s	Splits the screen also vertically.
-cs	Show the next given file in colors (through syslog-scheme).
-c	Show the next given file in colors.
-cS	scheme
	Show the next given file using the colorscheme selected with
	scheme (as defined in multitail.conf).
-Cs	Show all following files in color (through syslog-scheme).
-C	Show all following files in color.
-Cf field_index delimiter
	Show all following files in color depending on field selected
	with field_index. Fields are delimited by the defined delimiter.
-cf field_index delimiter
	Show the next file in color depending on field selected with
	field_index. Fields are delimited by the defined delimiter.
-m nlines
	Set mark and remember nlines lines. Set nlines to 0 (zero) if you want no limits on the buffering. Use this if you want to scroll back.
-M nlines Set a mark on ALL following files.
-p x [y]
	Set linewrap: a = print everything including linewrap. l = just
	show everything starting at the left until the rightside of the
	window is reached. r = show everything starting from the right
	of the line. s = show everything starting with the processname.
	S = show everything starting after the processname. o = show
	everything starting at offset 'y'.
-H interval Visual heart-beat (usefull when you want to keep your session alive). Interval is in seconds.

examples

multitail logfile -l "ping 192.168.1.3"
	creates 2 windows, logfile content and output of ping command
multitail -R 2 -l "netstat -t"