Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, talks about two way-cool new Windows PowerShell parameters: Tail and Wait.
Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Some things in Windows PowerShell are just so cool that I get all carried away with them and lose focus on whatever I am supposed to be doing. It happens that way sometimes. Luckily, it is the weekend, so I am covered for frittering away my time. But hey, it is for a good cause.
Note Today I talk about reading from a log file as it updates. I also talk about reading from the end of a log file. I am using the script I wrote yesterday to add to the log file as I watch for updates. See yesterday’s article, Weekend Scripter: Creating a Sample Log File by Using PowerShell,for that script and for a discussion of the script.
Reading x number of lines from beginning or from end of log
For log files that log to the end of the file, the most recent information is at the bottom of the file. This can be a problem if I don’t know how many lines of stuff are in the log. Oh, I can do it, but even using Windows PowerShell, it requires a bit of code. Not anymore, because we now have the tailparameter that will retrieve a specific number of lines from the very bottom of the file. This technique is shown here.
PS C:\> Get-Content -Path C:\fso\mylogfile.log -Tail 1
Added sample 125 at 4:0:42
PS C:\> Get-Content -Path C:\fso\mylogfile.log -Tail 2
Added sample 123 at 4:0:42
Added sample 125 at 4:0:42
PS C:\> Get-Content -Path C:\fso\mylogfile.log -Tail 3
Added sample 121 at 4:0:42
Added sample 123 at 4:0:42
Added sample 125 at 4:0:42
If I am interested in the first lines in the file, I use the –headparameter and specify how many lines I want to obtain. This is shown here.
PS C:\> Get-Content -Path C:\fso\mylogfile.log -Head 2
Added sample 0 at 3:46:40
Added sample 1 at 3:46:40
But what about when the action is still occurring?
If the action is still occurring, that is, it is still being written to the log file, use the –waitparameter of Get-Content. The command is shown here.
Get-Content -Path C:\fso\mylogfile.log -Tail 1 –Wait
In this way, I retrieve the last written log file entry as it occurs.
To test this, I run the command above in the Windows PowerShell console. The Windows PowerShell console waits for new lines to be written to the file. I then switch to the Windows PowerShell ISE and run my Add-LogV2.ps1 script so that new entries are added to the file.
I switch back to the Windows PowerShell console and watch the entries add new lines to the Windows PowerShell console. The result is shown in the following image.
Well, that is about it for monitoring a log file. Join me tomorrow when I will talk about parsing the System event log.
I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.
Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy