Question

I need to know the fastest way possible, in PHP or Linux Command Shell, to reduce a text file that has more than 10 lines to only have the last 10 lines. I want to use 10 lines for this example.

Thanks 🙂

Answer 1

to reduce a file to it’s last then lines do

tail -n 10 /path/to/file > /path/to/file.tmp && rm /path/to/file && mv /path/to/file.tmp /path/to/file

explanation:

tail outputs the last n lines of a file.
> writes it to a file.
&& is for chaining commands.
rm removes a file.
mv renames a file (or moves to a different location).