That's exactly the approach the unix tail command takes so it seems reasonable to assume there isn't a better way.

strace tail -2 xterm.faq.html
...
open("xterm.faq.html", O_RDONLY)        = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=257717, ...}) = 0
lseek(3, 0, SEEK_CUR)                   = 0
lseek(3, 0, SEEK_END)                   = 257717
lseek(3, 253952, SEEK_SET)              = 253952
read(3, "href=\"manpage/resize.ps\">ps</a>\n"..., 3765) = 3765
...
write(1, "</body>\n", 8</body>
)                = 8
write(1, "</html>\n", 8</html>
)                = 8
read(3, "", 0)                          = 0
close(3)                                = 0
...

[download]

In reply to Re^2: How can I grab the last 2 lines of a file? by 1s44c
in thread How can I grab the last 2 lines of a file? by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.