How to Display a Message in a Separate Window in Unix

The Unix and Linux operating systems provide a wide array of powerful tools for rerouting information and messages into logs, other windows and even directly into other programs. This makes it possible for Unix scripters to create sophisticated programs simply by chaining together other tools in the correct order.

Instructions

1. Open two terminals. The first will be the receiver that displays the incoming messages, and the other will run the programs that generate the messages. How to open the terminals will depend upon your version of Unix.

2. In the first terminal, type the following to create an empty buffer file to hold the messages:

   echo "" > log

3. In the first terminal, type the following to begin listening for messages:

   tail -F log

4. In the second terminal, type the following to reroute a list of all the files in the directory to the listening window:

   ls -a -l > log

5. In the second terminal, type the following to send a friendly "Hello" message to the other terminal:

   echo "Hello" > log

References

• Linux Magazine: Watch a Log File
• Linux How To: Redirection Tutorial