This post is still in progress.
If you’ve ever developed software on a Linux system, you’ve no doubt used the tail command to print out lines as they are added to the end of a log file. The tail command is used something like this:
$ tail -f /var/log/mylogfile.log
You can accomplish the same task using Windows PowerShell. At the shell prompt, use the Get-Content cmdlet. (Cmdlets are what commands are called in the PowerShell environment). The syntax is fairly simple.
> get-content mylogfile.log –wait
Get-Content is …
mylogfile.log is the name of the log file.
-wait is …
You can also use gc, cat, and type as aliases for Get-Content.
> gc mylogfile.log –wait
> cat mylogfile.log –wait
> type mylogfile.log –wait
You can also filter the log right at the command line using regular expressions:
> get-content mylogfile.log -wait | where { $_ -match “ERROR” }
More Information
“Using the Get-Content Cmdlet”. Microsoft Technet.