Last Updated on May 22, 2022
Other Features
In no particular order, the software also offers the following:
- Headless mode – use lnav’s log processing features in your own scripts.
- Supports tab-completion for almost all operations.
- Built-in log message parser can automatically discover and extract interesting data from plainly formatted log messages.
- Add comments and tags to log lines.
- Mark lines with ‘m’ and then press ‘c’ to copy the marked lines to the clipboard.
- Pretty-print view reformats structured data, like XML or JSON, so that it’s easier to read.
- Dynamic log line table – log formats that lack message structure, lnav can parse the log message and attempt to extract any data fields that it finds.
- Carefully considered keyboard shortcuts.
- Mouse support – use the mouse to mark lines of text and move the view with the scrollbar.
- Papertrail integration.
- Cross-platform support – runs under Linux and Mac OS X.
lnav supports a wide range of log message formats.
| Log Formats built into lnav | |
|---|---|
| Common Access Log | Default web access log format for servers like Apache |
| Amazon ALB log | Log format for Amazon Application Load Balancers |
| VMware vSphere Auto Deploy log format | Log format for the VMware Auto Deploy service |
| Generic Block | Generic format for logs, like cron, that have a date at the start of a bloc |
| Candlepin log format | Log format used by Candlepin registration system |
| Yum choose_repo Log | Log format for the yum choose_repo tool |
| CUPS log format | Log format used by the Common Unix Printing System |
| Dpkg Log | Debian dpkg log |
| Amazon ELB log | Log format for Amazon Elastic Load Balancers |
| engine log | Log format for the engine.log files from RHEV/oVirt |
| Common Error Log | Default web error log format for servers like Apache |
| Fsck_hfs Log | Log for the fsck_hfs tool on Mac OS X |
| Glog | Google glog format |
| Java log format | Log format used by log4j and other Java software |
| journalctl JSON log format | Logger format as created by systemd journalctl -o json |
| Katello log format | Log format used by Katello and Foreman |
| OpenAM Log | OpenAM identity provider |
| OpenAM Debug Log | Debug logs for the OpenAM identity provider |
| OpenStack log format | Log format for the OpenStack log files |
| CUPS Page Log | CUPS server log of printed pages |
| Papertrail Service | Log format for the papertrail log management service |
| SnapLogic Server Log | SnapLogic server log format |
| SSSD log format | Log format used by the System Security Services Daemon |
| Strace | strace output format |
| sudo | sudo privilege management tool |
| Syslog | system logger format found on most POSIX systems |
| TCF Log | Target Communication Framework log |
| TCSH History | tcsh history file format |
| Uwsgi Log | uwsgi log format |
| Vdsm Logs | Vdsm log format |
| VMKernel Logs | VMKernel’s log format |
| VMware Logs | VMware’s ESXi and vCenter log format |
| RHN server XMLRPC log format | Generated by Satellite’s XMLRPC component |
Compressed files (gz and bzip2) are automatically detected and decompressed on-the-fly.
The software helps filter out the noise.
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Introduction / Installation
Page 2 – In Operation
Page 3 – Other Features
Page 4 – Summary
Complete list of articles in this series:
| Excellent Utilities | |
|---|---|
| AES Crypt | Encrypt files using the Advanced Encryption Standard |
| Ananicy | Shell daemon created to manage processes’ IO and CPU priorities |
| broot | Next gen tree explorer and customizable launcher |
| Cerebro | Fast application launcher |
| cheat.sh | Community driven unified cheat sheet |
| CopyQ | Advanced clipboard manager |
| croc | Securely transfer files and folders from the command-line |
| Deskreen | Live streaming your desktop to a web browser |
| duf | Disk usage utility with more polished presentation than the classic df |
| eza | A turbo-charged alternative to the venerable ls command |
| Extension Manager | Browse, install and manage GNOME Shell Extensions |
| fd | Wonderful alternative to the venerable find |
| fkill | Kill processes quick and easy |
| fontpreview | Quickly search and preview fonts |
| horcrux | File splitter with encryption and redundancy |
| Kooha | Simple screen recorder |
| KOReader | Document viewer for a wide variety of file formats |
| Imagine | A simple yet effective image optimization tool |
| LanguageTool | Style and grammar checker for 30+ languages |
| Liquid Prompt | Adaptive prompt for Bash & Zsh |
| lnav | Advanced log file viewer for the small-scale; great for troubleshooting |
| lsd | Like exa, lsd is a turbo-charged alternative to ls |
| Mark Text | Simple and elegant Markdown editor |
| McFly | Navigate through your bash shell history |
| mdless | Formatted and highlighted view of Markdown files |
| noti | Monitors a command or process and triggers a notification |
| Nushell | Flexible cross-platform shell with a modern feel |
| nvitop | GPU process management for NVIDIA graphics cards |
| OCRmyPDF | Add OCR text layer to scanned PDFs |
| Oh My Zsh | Framework to manage your Zsh configuration |
| Paperwork | Designed to simplify the management of your paperwork |
| pastel | Generate, analyze, convert and manipulate colors |
| PDF Mix Tool | Perform common editing operations on PDF files |
| peco | Simple interactive filtering tool that's remarkably useful |
| ripgrep | Recursively search directories for a regex pattern |
| Rnote | Sketch and take handwritten notes |
| scrcpy | Display and control Android devices |
| Sticky | Simulates the traditional “sticky note” style stationery on your desktop |
| tldr | Simplified and community-driven man pages |
| tmux | A terminal multiplexer that offers a massive boost to your workflow |
| Tusk | An unofficial Evernote client with bags of potential |
| Ulauncher | Sublime application launcher |
| Watson | Track the time spent on projects |
| Whoogle Search | Self-hosted and privacy-focused metasearch engine |
| Zellij | Terminal workspace with batteries included |