# RoR Logs viewer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [November 29, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595 "2006-11-29T00:29:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bruparel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595/1 "2006-11-29T00:29:13Z")
Ok another newbie question. I did a tail -f on the test.log file for the sample depot application in Agile Web D. book and was very impressed with the formatted log entries. Apparently, a lot of effort has been put into this. My question is: what is the most effective way of viewing this log? tail command? I ask this question because a bare bones text editor like gedit or vi will not display the formatted log, instead show funny graphics characters. Also, is there some documentation on how to read the test log file? Thanks. Bharat ---
**Author:** ![bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bruparel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595/2 "2006-11-29T04:25:49Z")
On 11/28/06, Bharat [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Thanks. > Bharat Every editor I’ve ever used displays it fine. What distro are you using? – Chris M. Web D. Open Source & Web Standards Advocate > **[Chriscodes.com is for sale | HugeDomains](https://www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=chriscodes.com)** > > Painless, quick delivery of your domain name. Fast and professional service. ---
**Author:** ![bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bruparel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595/3 "2006-11-29T04:31:50Z")
are you on windows? when tailing on rails logs, I use ‘tail’ on a cygwin terminal get it from [http://www.cygwin.com/](http://www.cygwin.com/) basically cygwin makes your Windows box as useful as a linux box (almost) the cygwin tail will format the logs and colour them correctly thats what whose funny characters are, mark up for the colours On 11/29/06, Chris M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > gedit or vi will not display the formatted log, instead show funny > > – > > Chris M. > Web D. > Open Source & Web Standards Advocate > [http://www.chriscodes.com/](http://www.chriscodes.com/) > > > – [www.blogsaic.com](http://www.blogsaic.com) view, visit, vote ---
**Author:** ![bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bruparel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595/4 "2006-11-29T04:45:53Z")
On Nov 28, 2006, at 10:23 PM, Chris M. wrote: > Every editor I’ve ever used displays it fine. The log contains various terminal manipulation characters. I can read the contents if I “tail -f”, but “less” doesn’t handle it. (TERM=xterm-color) -faisal ---
**Author:** ![bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bruparel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595/5 "2006-11-29T21:38:59Z")
Thanks gentlemen for your responses. Chris, I am using Fedora Core 5 and I was talking about gedit which is the default editor in it. ---
**Author:** ![bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bruparel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 11:08am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595/6 "2006-11-29T11:08:37Z")
Hello, > > Every editor I’ve ever used displays it fine. Vi may not work but Vim displays it fine with the excellent Rails plugin: [http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script\_id=1567](http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1567) > The log contains various terminal manipulation characters. I can > read the contents if I “tail -f”, but “less” doesn’t handle it. > (TERM=xterm-color) Try less -r. Regards, Andy S. ---
**Author:** ![bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bruparel)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 9:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595/7 "2006-11-30T09:58:54Z")
Dion H. wrote: > I use ‘tail’ on a cygwin terminal > get it from [http://www.cygwin.com/](http://www.cygwin.com/) > > basically cygwin makes your Windows box as useful as a linux box > (almost) This is great. THX for sharing. ---
**Author:** ![bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bruparel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bruparel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ror-logs-viewer/77595/8 "2006-11-29T22:33:10Z")
Thanks Andy, less -r works for me. I am familiar with vi and therefore the less command but did not know -r flag. Regards, Bharat