<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*--> <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"> <!-- This file is part of systemd. Copyright 2012 Lennart Poettering systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. systemd is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with systemd; If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. --> <refentry id="journalctl"> <refentryinfo> <title>journalctl</title> <productname>systemd</productname> <authorgroup> <author> <contrib>Developer</contrib> <firstname>Lennart</firstname> <surname>Poettering</surname> <email>lennart@poettering.net</email> </author> </authorgroup> </refentryinfo> <refmeta> <refentrytitle>journalctl</refentrytitle> <manvolnum>1</manvolnum> </refmeta> <refnamediv> <refname>journalctl</refname> <refpurpose>Query the systemd journal</refpurpose> </refnamediv> <refsynopsisdiv> <cmdsynopsis> <command>journalctl <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg> <arg choice="opt">MATCH</arg></command> </cmdsynopsis> </refsynopsisdiv> <refsect1> <title>Description</title> <para><command>journalctl</command> may be used to query the contents of the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> journal.</para> <para>If called without parameter will show the full contents of the journal, starting with the oldest entry collected.</para> <para>If a match argument is passed the output is filtered accordingly. A match is in the format <literal>FIELD=VALUE</literal>, e.g. <literal>_SYSTEMD_UNIT=httpd.service</literal>. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.journal-fields</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for a list of well-known fields.</para> <para>Output is interleaved from all accessible journal files, whether they are rotated or currently being written, and regardless whether they belong to the system itself or are accessible user journals.</para> <para>All users are granted access to their private per-user journals. However, by default only root and users who are members of the <literal>adm</literal> group get access to the system journal and the journals of other users.</para> </refsect1> <refsect1> <title>Options</title> <para>The following options are understood:</para> <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term><option>--help</option></term> <term><option>-h</option></term> <listitem><para>Prints a short help text and exits.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--version</option></term> <listitem><para>Prints a short version string and exits.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--no-pager</option></term> <listitem><para>Do not pipe output into a pager.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--all</option></term> <term><option>-a</option></term> <listitem><para>Show all fields in full, even if they include unprintable characters or are very long.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--follow</option></term> <term><option>-f</option></term> <listitem><para>Show only most recent journal entries, and continously print new entries as they are appended to the journal.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--lines=</option></term> <term><option>-n</option></term> <listitem><para>Controls the number of journal lines to show, counting from the most recent ones. Takes a positive integer argument. In follow mode defaults to 10, otherwise is unset thus not limiting how many lines are shown.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--no-tail</option></term> <listitem><para>Show all stored output lines, even in follow mode. Undoes the effect of <option>--lines=</option>.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--output=</option></term> <term><option>-o</option></term> <listitem><para>Controls the formatting of the journal entries that are shown. Takes one of <literal>short</literal>, <literal>short-monotonic</literal>, <literal>verbose</literal>, <literal>export</literal>, <literal>json</literal>, <literal>cat</literal>. <literal>short</literal> is the default and generates an output that is mostly identical to the formatting of classic syslog log files, showing one line per journal entry. <literal>short-monotonic</literal> is very similar but shows monotonic timestamps instead of wallclock timestamps. <literal>verbose</literal> shows the full structered entry items with all fiels. <literal>export</literal> serializes the journal into a binary (but mostly text-based) stream suitable for backups and network transfer. <literal>json</literal> formats entries as JSON data structures. <literal>cat</literal> generates a very terse output only showing the actual message of each journal entry with no meta data, not even a timestamp.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--quiet</option></term> <term><option>-q</option></term> <listitem><para>Suppresses any warning message regarding inaccessable system journals when run as normal user.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--local</option></term> <term><option>-l</option></term> <listitem><para>Show only locally generated messages.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><option>--new-id128</option></term> <listitem><para>Instead of showing journal contents generate a new 128 bit ID suitable for identifying messages. This is intended for usage by developers who need a new identifier for a new message they introduce and want to make recognizable. Will print the new ID in three different formats which can be copied into source code or similar.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </refsect1> <refsect1> <title>Exit status</title> <para>On success 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.</para> </refsect1> <refsect1> <title>Environment</title> <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term><varname>$SYSTEMD_PAGER</varname></term> <listitem><para>Pager to use when <option>--no-pager</option> is not given; overrides <varname>$PAGER</varname>. Setting this to an empty string or the value <literal>cat</literal> is equivalent to passing <option>--no-pager</option>.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </refsect1> <refsect1> <title>See Also</title> <para> <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.journal-fields</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journald.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> </para> </refsect1> </refentry>