The //**tail**// command in Linux and Unix-like systems is used to display the last few lines of a file. By default, it will display the last 10 lines of a file, but this can be modified with options.

Here is the basic syntax for the **tail** command:

<code>tail [options] [file]</code>
file is the name of the file you want to display the last few lines of.

Here are some examples of the tail command:

1. To display the last 10 lines of a file called "file1.txt":
<code>$ tail file1.txt</code>

2. To display the last 14 lines of a file called "file1.txt"
<code>$ tail -n 14 file1.txt</code>
Note: The -n option is used to specify the number of lines to display.

3. To display the last 15 lines of a file called "file1.txt" and "file2.txt"
<code>$ tail -n 15 file1.txt file2.txt</code>

4. To display the last 20 lines of the output of a command
<code>$ ls -la | tail -n 20</code>
Note: The | symbol is used to pipe the output of one command to another. In this case it is piping the output of the //ls -la// command to the //tail -n 20// command.

5. To display the last n lines of multiple files, in this case 25 lines
<code>$ tail -n 25 file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt</code>

6. The **tail** command is useful for quickly displaying the last few lines of a file, which can be useful for previewing the contents of a file, monitoring the end of a log file, or for troubleshooting purposes. The tail command can also be used to monitor log files in real-time by using the **-f** //option//, which will display new lines //as they are written to the file//.

<code>$ tail -f file1.txt</code>

Note: The **-f** option is used to display new lines as they are written to the file.

7. To display the last n bytes of a file, where n equals to 30
<code>$ tail -c 30 file1.txt</code>

Note: The **-c** option is used to specify the number of bytes to display.

It's important to note that the **tail** command will display the last few lines of the file, regardless of the file type, whether it's text or binary.

The **tail** command can be combined with other commands like [[unix_commands:grep|grep]], [[unix_commands:sed|sed]] or [[unix_commands:awk|awk]] to manipulate the output or filter it. It's also useful to use **tail** in combination with [[unix_commands:head|head]] command to display the first and last few lines of a file.

Please note that the **tail** command will display the last few lines of the file, regardless of the file type, whether it's text or binary.


Please also review the [[unix_commands:head|head]] command, which is quite similar but still different from **tail**. The **tail** command is useful for **displaying the last few lines** of a file, which can be useful for monitoring log files in real-time, troubleshooting and previewing the contents of a file. The **head** command is useful for **displaying the first few lines** of a file, which can be useful for previewing the contents of a file or for troubleshooting purposes. Both of them are useful when you have a large file and you only want to see a specific part of the file without opening it in an editor.