Is there a way to simulate the *nix tail command on the Windows command line? I have a file and I want a way to snip off the first n lines of text. For example:
D:\>type file.txt
line one
line two
line three
D:\>*[call to tail]* > result.txt
D:\>type result.txt
line two
line three
in PS try to use command:
Select -Last 1
This command can be pipelined also.
Example to get first line:
type .\out.txt | Select -Last 1
or to get the first line:
type .\out.txt | Select -First 1
As a contemporary answer, if running Windows 10 you can use the "Linux Subsystem for Windows".
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
This will allow you to run native linux commands from within windows and thus run tail exactly how you would in linux.
To keep the 1st few lines of text (head):
set n=<lines>
for /l %a in (1,1,%n%) do (
for /f "tokens=*" %i in ('find /v /n "" ^< test1.txt ^| find "[%a]"') do (
REM ove prefixed line numbers:
set a=%i
set a=!a:*]=!
echo:!a!)
)
To discard the 1st few lines of text (tail):
set n=<lines>
set file=<file.txt>
set /a n=n+1 >nul
for /f "tokens=*" %i in ('find /v /c "" ^< %file%') do set total=%i
for /l %a in (%n%,1,%total%) do (
for /f "tokens=*" %i in ('find /v /n "" ^< %file% ^| find "[%a]"') do (
REM ove prefixed line numbers:
set a=%i
set a=!a:*]=!
echo:!a!)
)
Note:
The head function can also be achieved by fsutil
The tail function can also be achieved by fc & comp
Tested on Win 10 cmd