"tail -f" in python

tail_file.py

import sys
import time
import subprocess
import select


# Modified from: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12523371/111635
def tail_file(filename, process_line):
  assert callable(process_line), '`process_line` should be a callable'

  f = subprocess.Popen(['tail','-F',filename],\
        stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
  p = select.poll()
  p.register(f.stdout)

  while True:
    if p.poll(1):
      while True:
        line = f.stdout.readline()
        if line:
          process_line(line)
        else:
          break
    time.sleep(1)


if __name__ == '__main__':
  if not len(sys.argv) > 1:
    print('Requires single argument, the path to the logfile')
    sys.exit(1)

  filename = sys.argv[1]
  print('Calling `tail_file` on %s...' % filename)

  def process_line(line):
    print('received line:', line)

  tail_file(filename, process_line)

And if you are feeling particularly fancy, and need to tail a rotating log file (as I do), here is the solution:

import os, time

def tail_rotating_file(filename, sleep=0.5):
  assert os.path.isfile(filename), ('"%s" is not a file or is missing' % filename)

  file_id = unique_file_identifier(filename)

  line_group = []
  f = open(filename, 'r')
  try:
    while True:
      line = f.readline()
      if line:
        line_group.append(line)
      else:
        # Only send the lines once we are all caught up (line = None)
        if len(line_group) > 0:
          yield line_group
          line_group = []

        # Check if the log has rotated. If so, get the new log file
        # TODO: any potential errors to handle here? missing file? etc?
        latest_file_id = unique_file_identifier(filename)
        if latest_file_id != file_id:
          file_id = latest_file_id
          f.close()
          f = open(filename, 'r')

        # Wait for more lines to accumulate
        time.sleep(sleep)
  finally:
    f.close()

def unique_file_identifier(filename):
  # NOTE: `st_ino` is always 0 on windows, which won't work
  return os.stat(filename).st_ino

Note: I also return the list of most recent lines since the last sleep, instead of yielding each line one by one, as I'm doing some processing where I roll up errors/tracebacks from multiple lines into a single structured log entry.