in reply to Tail a rapidly changing file

Try File::ReadBackwards and read grinder's Performing a tail(1) in Perl (reading the last N lines of a file).

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Re^2: Tail a rapidly changing file
by rah (Monk) on Jan 16, 2010 at 01:01 UTC

    I looked at both earlier, but I don't think either will apply. I have the problem Grinder describes about not being able to stop File::Tail. But I don't think any of the suggestions in the linked node will work.

    I don't think ReadBackwards will work because I don't know how many lines I need. It will be some very large number most times and highly variable at all times.