Command line: How do you keep the output from scrolling out of sight?
I'm using Debian in a command-line-only installation for running a firewall/server. I know that I'm supposed to use the messages I see every time I enter a command for troubleshooting purposes. But if the output is too long, then the first messages scroll out of sight, and that makes it impossible to properly troubleshoot when I don't know what I'm doing. Is there a way to get the output to temporarily stop so I can read it all if I wish? -- Jason Hsu jhsu802...@jasonhsu.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110301105932.99d1a32c.jhsu802...@jasonhsu.com
Re: Command line: How do you keep the output from scrolling out of sight?
On 03/01/2011 11:59 AM, Jason Hsu wrote: I'm using Debian in a command-line-only installation for running a firewall/server. I know that I'm supposed to use the messages I see every time I enter a command for troubleshooting purposes. But if the output is too long, then the first messages scroll out of sight, and that makes it impossible to properly troubleshoot when I don't know what I'm doing. Is there a way to get the output to temporarily stop so I can read it all if I wish? Have you tries the he 'Scroll Lock' key? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4d6d298c.10...@gmail.com
Re: Command line: How do you keep the output from scrolling out of sight?
On Tue, 2011-03-01 at 10:59 -0600, Jason Hsu wrote: I'm using Debian in a command-line-only installation for running a firewall/server. I know that I'm supposed to use the messages I see every time I enter a command for troubleshooting purposes. But if the output is too long, then the first messages scroll out of sight, and that makes it impossible to properly troubleshoot when I don't know what I'm doing. Is there a way to get the output to temporarily stop so I can read it all if I wish? -- Jason Hsu jhsu802...@jasonhsu.com Yes, you can either use SHIFTPgUp and PgDn or you can pipe it through less (or more), e.g., ls /usr/bin | less Hope that's what you're looking for - John -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1298999832.12172.2.ca...@denise.theartistscloset.com
Re: Command line: How do you keep the output from scrolling out of sight?
On 2011-03-01 10:59:32 Jason Hsu wrote: I know that I'm supposed to use the messages I see every time I enter a command for troubleshooting purposes. But if the output is too long, then the first messages scroll out of sight, and that makes it impossible to properly troubleshoot when I don't know what I'm doing. Is there a way to get the output to temporarily stop so I can read it all if I wish? less / more / pg for interactive viewing. redirection / tee for persisting output and reviewing both now and later. script for saving both input and output with the ability to reply the session. HTH -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. b...@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/\_/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: Command line: How do you keep the output from scrolling out of sight?
Jason Hsu wrote: I'm using Debian in a command-line-only installation for running a firewall/server. I know that I'm supposed to use the messages I see every time I enter a command for troubleshooting purposes. But if the output is too long, then the first messages scroll out of sight, and that makes it impossible to properly troubleshoot when I don't know what I'm doing. Is there a way to get the output to temporarily stop so I can read it all if I wish? On most terminals: CTRL-S will stop output CTRL-Q will restart it Note that if it runs out of buffer space the process will stop, blocking on output. Also, possibly useful, SHIFT-PgUp may scroll back half a page (but it drops back to the bottom when there's new output) Other useful things may be to pipe the output through less (which presents it one page at a time) or tee (which will save it to a file, and you can look through the file from another termianal while output continues on the main one). Check out the man pages for those two things if they seem useful. If you're not sure about piping things to other things, you need to read up on how to use the command line. This site seems as good as any, but a web search will provide many others: http://linuxcommand.org/ -- Chris Jackson Shadowcat Systems Ltd. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4d6d2b63.70...@shadowcat.co.uk
Re: Command line: How do you keep the output from scrolling out of sight?
on 10:59 Tue 01 Mar, Jason Hsu (jhsu802...@jasonhsu.com) wrote: I'm using Debian in a command-line-only installation for running a firewall/server. I know that I'm supposed to use the messages I see every time I enter a command for troubleshooting purposes. But if the output is too long, then the first messages scroll out of sight, and that makes it impossible to properly troubleshoot when I don't know what I'm doing. Is there a way to get the output to temporarily stop so I can read it all if I wish? As others have noted: command | less Or an alternate pager, from least to most featured: pg, more, most, dog. You can specify this with the PAGER environment variable or under /etc/alternatives/pager (see update-alternatives). You can dump output to a file. Several varaints: command myfile # save standard output command myfile 21 # save standard output standard error command myfile 2myfile.err # separate stdout/stderr command /dev/null# discard stdout (stderr displayed to terminal) command | tee myfile # view output, save stdout to 'myfile' command 21 | tee myfile # view output, both stdout stderr to 'myfile' Your terminal's scrollbar should be generally useful. Set a sufficiently large scrollback buffer. Page-up / page-down, may work in some terminals and/or console. The 'script' command can be used to record interactive sessions. Depending on the amount of screen-painting going on (ncurses / full-screen terminal programs such as top, etc.), this may not be too readable. 'scriptreplay' may make for a saner output. Using 'screen' one of the benefits is a scrollback buffer. Very handy. For noninteractive comamnds, where I want to massage the output but don't know what filters I need to use immediately (or want to see intermediate results): command | vim - # read stdout into vim for interactive editing. I can then annotate or use futher regex substitutions or commands to clean up / modify data. Mostly I just pipe output to less or redirect to a file as needed. -- Dr. Ed Morbius, Chief Scientist /| Robot Wrangler / Staff Psychologist| When you seek unlimited power Krell Power Systems Unlimited| Go to Krell! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110301201028.gc5...@altaira.krellpowersys.exo
