Tail tabsPro

A tail tab follows a file, a log usually: it shows the file’s last 100 lines, then each line as it’s added, as tail -F does in Terminal. Choose Tail File… in the “+” menu (A on the New Tab page) and pick the file. You can have as many tail tabs as you like; each is named after its file.

Reading

• The text is monospaced, at the editor’s size (⌘= and ⌘- change it). Select it and copy it with ⌘C; ⌘F finds in it.
• At the bottom, it follows the end of the file. Scroll up, and it holds still while new lines are added below. Scroll back to the end, and it follows again. The status line says which: following, scrolled up, not following or stopped.
• Only the end of the file is read, so even a big log opens at once.

Stop, Start and Clear

Above the text:

• Stop puts a dimmed break after the lines, with the time, and stops reading the file.
• Start shows the file’s last 10 lines after the break, then follows it again.
• Clear empties the tab. The file itself is never changed.

Stops and breaks aren’t kept: after a relaunch, the tab follows its file again.

When the file changes

• A file that’s emptied starts over from its new end.
• If the file is moved, renamed or deleted, the tab says it can’t be found. If a new file takes its place (as when a log rotates), the tab says it was replaced. Either way the lines stay, and a button above them lets you choose the file again, or another one. Brink can read only the files you pick, so a new file at the same path needs picking too.

The tab’s menu has Choose Another File… and Reveal in Finder. Tail tabs come back after a relaunch, following their files. Nothing is read while Brink isn’t running.