Stop Putty from Automatically Scrolling to the Bottom when New Content Arrives

Stop Putty Automatically Scrolling to Bottom When New Content Arrives

Putty is a popular terminal emulator used by many developers and system administrators to connect to remote servers via SSH. One common issue that users face is that Putty automatically scrolls to the bottom of the screen when new content arrives, making it difficult to read the previous lines of text.

Why Putty Automatically Scrolls to the Bottom

Putty automatically scrolls to the bottom of the screen when new content arrives because it assumes that the user wants to see the latest output. This behavior is useful in some cases, such as when you are tailing a log file and want to see the most recent entries. However, it can be annoying when you are trying to read or edit a file and new content keeps pushing the text out of view.

How to Stop Putty from Automatically Scrolling to the Bottom

Fortunately, there is a way to stop Putty from automatically scrolling to the bottom when new content arrives. You can do this by using the tail -f command with the --retry and --quiet options. Here's how:

1. Connect to the remote server using Putty.
2. Open a new terminal window or tab.
3. Navigate to the directory where the file you want to monitor is located.
4. Run the following command:

This command will monitor the specified file and display new content as it arrives, but it will not automatically scroll to the bottom. Instead, you can use the arrow keys to scroll up and down as needed.

Advantages of Using the tail -f Command with --retry and --quiet Options

Using the tail -f command with the --retry and --quiet options has several advantages over the default behavior of Putty:

• Prevents automatic scrolling: As mentioned earlier, this is the main advantage of using this command. It allows you to monitor a file for new content without the screen constantly scrolling to the bottom.
• Handles file rotation: The --retry option tells the command to keep trying to open the file even if it is rotated or deleted. This is useful when monitoring log files, which are often rotated to prevent them from becoming too large.
• Suppresses error messages: The --quiet option suppresses error messages that might be displayed if the file is not found or cannot be opened. This keeps the output clean and easy to read.

Putty is a powerful terminal emulator, but its default behavior of automatically scrolling to the bottom when new content arrives can be frustrating. By using the tail -f command with the --retry and --quiet options, you can monitor a file for new content without the screen constantly scrolling to the bottom. This allows you to read and edit files more easily and makes Putty an even more useful tool for developers and system administrators.

References

• tail(1) - Linux manual page
• Scrollback in the Putty configuration manual