using watch to make a log?

slinky2004 · 11-21-2005, 11:36 PM

is it possible to make watch r edirect it's output into a file to make a kind of makeshift log? so if i wanted to log my cpu temperature i'd do this:

Code:

watch -n.5 cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/ATF0/temperature

only somehow get it to save each output to a file so it would look something like this:

Code:

temperature:             53 C
temperature:             53 C
temperature:             53 C
temperature:             53 C
temperature:             51 C
temperature:             54 C
temperature:             53 C
temperature:             53 C
temperature:             57 C
temperature:             55 C
temperature:             55 C

if i could get it to only save the output when the number changes it would be even better.

ahedler · 11-21-2005, 11:50 PM

After taking a really quick look at the watch man page, I'd think you could just tack on ">> somelog.file" to the end of your command to redirect the output to the file.

Then again, rather than using watch, which I suspect you're running from a command line, possibly in the background, why not try running the cat statement with the redirect in a cron job? Make sure you use ">>" and not ">" so you will be appending to the log file, rather than overwriting it each time it executes.

-Alan

slinky2004 · 11-22-2005, 12:37 PM

appending >> on watch didnt work, but i'll try the cron thing. thx