open-nomad/website/source/docs/commands/alloc/logs.html.md.erb

---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Commands: alloc logs"
sidebar_current: "docs-commands-alloc-logs"
description: >
  Stream the logs of a task.
---

# Command: alloc logs

The `alloc logs` command displays the log of a given task.

## Usage

```
nomad alloc logs [options] <allocation> <task>
```

This command streams the logs of the given task in the allocation. If the
allocation is only running a single task, the task name can be omitted.
Optionally, the `-job` option may be used in which case a random allocation from
the given job will be chosen.
#
## General Options

<%= partial "docs/commands/_general_options" %>

## Logs Options

* `-stderr`: Display stderr logs.

* `-verbose`: Display verbose output.

* `-job`: Use a random allocation from the specified job, preferring a running
allocation.

* `-f`: Causes the output to not stop when the end of the logs are reached, but
rather to wait for additional output.

* `-tail`: Show the logs contents with offsets relative to the end of the logs.
If no offset is given, -n is defaulted to 10.

* `-n`: Sets the tail location in best-efforted number of lines relative to the
end of the logs.

* `-c`: Sets the tail location in number of bytes relative to the end of the logs.

## Examples

```
$ nomad alloc logs eb17e557 redis
foobar
baz
bam

$ nomad alloc logs -stderr eb17e557 redis
[ERR]: foo
[ERR]: bar

$ nomad alloc logs -job example
[ERR]: foo
[ERR]: bar

$ nomad alloc logs -tail -n 2 eb17e557 redis
foobar
baz

$ nomad alloc logs -tail -f -n 3 eb17e557 redis
foobar
baz
bam
<blocking>
```

## Using Job ID instead of Allocation ID

Setting the `-job` flag causes a random allocation of the specified job to be
selected. Nomad will prefer to select a running allocation ID for the job, but
if no running allocations for the job are found, Nomad will use a dead
allocation.

```
nomad alloc logs -job <job-id> <task>
```


This can be useful for debugging a job that has multiple allocations, and it's
not really required to use a specific allocation ID.