Linux - A different kind of tail

Question

I would like to display the content of a text file which its content is completely refreshed every second on the command screen.

Here the Python code to give you guys an idea:

def show_status():

    while True:
        #Delete the content
        with open("/home/pi/log/heartbeat.txt", 'w'):
            pass

        #Print new content
        db_file = open("/home/pi/log/heartbeat.txt", 'a')
        db_file.write('###################################################################################################\n')
        db_file.write('STATUS    SENSOR            ALIVE    PIN     HEARTBEAT     LAST PIN HIGH\n')
        db_file.write('###################################################################################################\n')
        db_file.close()

        for i in range(0,4):
            report_sensor(i)

        sleep(1)

By using tail I get a "file truncated" error and the content keep flooding my screen repeatedly.

Is there a command which I could use for it?

Thanks

Answer 1

As suggested by Karlp, the command below did the trick:

watch -n 1 cat /home/pi/log/heartbeat.txt