Quick Start

Opening Logs

# Open a file
logana app.log

# Open a directory — pick which files to open from a file picker
logana /var/log/

# Pipe from stdin
journalctl -f | logana
tail -f app.log | logana

# Stream a Docker container
logana            # then type :docker

# Preload a saved filter set — filters are applied in a single pass during indexing
logana app.log --filters my-filters.json

# Add inline filters directly on the command line
logana app.log -i error -o debug
logana app.log -i "--field level=ERROR" -t "> 2024-02-21"

# Start at the end of the file with tail mode enabled
logana app.log --tail

# Combined: preload filters and jump to the last matching line immediately
logana app.log --filters my-filters.json --tail

Opening Compressed and Archive Files

logana app.log.gz
logana logs.tar.gz
logana logs.zip

Opening a .gz/.bz2/.xz/.zip/.tar/.tar.gz/.tar.bz2/.tar.xz file — whether from the command line or with :open inside the TUI — shows a popup listing everything inside it as a tree, without extracting anything yet. If an entry is itself an archive (a .zip inside a .tar.gz, for example), one nested level is expanded automatically so its contents show as nested rows too; anything nested deeper than that shows as a collapsed row you can expand yourself.

• Space toggles the file under the cursor. Toggling a nested archive’s own row selects or deselects everything inside it at once.
• m marks the file under the cursor to be merged instead — independently of Space, and toggled the same way for a nested archive’s whole subtree.
• Right reads and reveals a not-yet-expanded nested archive’s contents (or just reveals them again, with no re-read, if they were already fetched and merely folded shut). Left folds an expanded archive’s contents back out of view.
• a / n select or deselect every file.
• Enter extracts the confirmed selection: Space-toggled files each open as their own tab, and m-marked files are extracted and combined into a single timestamp-sorted tab. Both happen together in one press. If any m-marked file’s format can’t be recognized, only the merge is skipped (with an error naming the file) — toggled files still open normally.
• Esc cancels without extracting anything.

First Steps

Once logana opens, you’ll see the log content with the detected format shown in the title bar.

Basic navigation:

• j / k — scroll down / up one line
• gg / G — jump to first / last line
• Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u — half page down / up
• q — quit

Add your first filter:

• Press i and type a pattern to show only matching lines
• Press o and type a pattern to hide matching lines
• Press f to open the filter manager and see all active filters

Search:

• Press / and type a query to search forward
• Press n / N to jump between matches

Commands:

• Press : to open command mode
• Type a command and press Enter (Tab completes commands, flags, and paths)