Watch Log Files in Real Time on Windows

Log files are dynamic and their content changes frequently in time. To monitor log files, their content should be watched when it changes. This tutorial demonstrates how to watch a log files in real time on Windows.

There is no built-in command on Windows that can be executed in Command Prompt (CMD) to monitor a text file for changes in real time. However, it can be achieved using PowerShell. Use the Get-Content command with -Wait parameter to watch a log files in real time. It continuously will display the new lines added to the file.

Get-Content log.txt -Wait

Command outputs the entire content of the file before outputting any extra lines that are added. However, it can be undesirable result for large files. The -Tail parameter can show the last N lines of the file. The following command shows the last 10 lines of the file and waits for more:

Get-Content log.txt -Tail 10 -Wait