Table of Contents
unbuffer - unbuffer output
unbuffer program [ args ]
unbuffer
disables the output buffering that occurs when program output is redirected.
For example, suppose you are watching the output from a fifo by running
it through od and then more.
od -c /tmp/fifo | more
You will not see anything until a full page of output has been produced.
You can disable this automatic buffering as follows:
unbuffer od -c /tmp/fifo | more
When you have a pipeline, unbuffer must be applied to each element except
the last (since that doesn't have its output redirected). Example:
unbuffer p1 | unbuffer p2 | unbuffer p3 | p4
The man page is longer than the program.
"Exploring Expect:
A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Programs" by Don Libes, O'Reilly
and Associates, January 1995.
Don Libes, National Institute of Standards
and Technology
Table of Contents