lnav/docs/source/cli.rst

.. _cli:

Command Line Interface
======================

There are two command-line interfaces provided by **lnav**, one for viewing
files and one for managing **lnav**'s configuration.  The file viewing mode is
the default and is all that most people will need.  The management mode can
be useful for those that are developing log file formats and is activated by
passing the :option:`-m` option as the first argument.

File Viewing Mode
-----------------

The following options can be used when starting **lnav**.  There are not
many flags because the majority of the functionality is accessed using
the :option:`-c` option to execute :ref:`commands<commands>` or
:ref:`SQL queries<sql-ext>`.

Options
^^^^^^^

.. option:: -h

   Print these command-line options and exit.

.. option:: -H

   Start lnav and switch to the help view.

.. option:: -C

   Check the given files against the configuration, report any errors, and
   exit.  This option can be helpful for validating that a log format is
   well-formed.

.. option:: -c <command>

   Execute the given lnav command, SQL query, or lnav script.  The
   argument must be prefixed with the character used to enter the prompt
   to distinguish between the different types (i.e. ':', ';', '|').
   This option can be given multiple times.

.. option:: -f <path>

   Execute the given command file.  This option can be given multiple times.

.. option:: -I <path>

   Add a configuration directory.

.. option:: -i

   Install the format files in the :file:`.lnav/formats/` directory.
   Individual files will be installed in the :file:`installed`
   directory and git repositories will be cloned with a directory
   name based on their repository URI.

.. option:: -u

   Update formats installed from git repositories.

.. option:: -d <path>

   Write debug messages to the given file.

.. option:: -n

   Run without the curses UI (headless mode).

.. option:: -N

   Do not open the default syslog file if no files are given.

.. option:: -r

   Recursively load files from the given base directories.

.. option:: -t

   Prepend timestamps to the lines of data being read in on the standard input.

.. option:: -w <path>

   Write the contents of the standard input to this file.

.. option:: -V

   Print the version of lnav.

.. option:: -q

   Do not print the log messages after executing all of the commands.


Management Mode (v0.11.0+)
--------------------------

The management CLI mode provides functionality for query **lnav**'s log
format definitions.

Options
^^^^^^^

.. option:: -m

   Switch to management mode.  This must be the first option passed on the
   command-line.

Subcommands
^^^^^^^^^^^

.. option:: regex101 import <regex101-url> <format-name> [<regex-name>]

   Convert a regex101.com entry into a skeleton log format file.

.. option:: format <format-name> regex <regex-name> push

   Push a log format regular expression to regex101.com .

.. option:: format <format-name> regex <regex-name> pull

   Pull changes to a regex that was previously pushed to regex101.com .

Environment Variables
---------------------

.. envvar:: XDG_CONFIG_HOME

   If this variable is set, lnav will use this directory to store its
   configuration in a sub-directory named :file:`lnav`.

.. envvar:: HOME

   If :envvar:`XDG_CONFIG_HOME` is not set, lnav will use this directory
   to store its configuration in a sub-directory named :file:`.lnav`.

.. envvar:: APPDATA

   On Windows, lnav will use this directory instead of HOME
   to store its configuration in a sub-directory named :file:`.lnav`.

.. envvar:: TZ

   The timezone setting is used in some log formats to convert UTC timestamps
   to the local timezone.


Examples
--------

  To load and follow the system syslog file:

  .. prompt:: bash

    lnav

  To load all of the files in :file:`/var/log`:

  .. prompt:: bash

    lnav /var/log

  To watch the output of make with timestamps prepended:

  .. prompt:: bash

    make 2>&1 | lnav -t