journalctl command examples

journalctl – Query the systemd journal

Without arguments, all collected logs are shown unfiltered:

journalctl

With one match specified, all entries with a field matching the expression are shown:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_UNIT=avahi-daemon.service

If two different fields are matched, only entries matching both expressions at the same time are shown:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_UNIT=avahi-daemon.service _PID=28097

If two matches refer to the same field, all entries matching either expression are shown:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_UNIT=avahi-daemon.service _SYSTEMD_UNIT=dbus.service

If the separator “+” is used, two expressions may be combined in a logical OR. The following will show all messages from the Avahi service process with the PID 28097 plus all messages from the D-Bus service (from any of its processes):

journalctl _SYSTEMD_UNIT=avahi-daemon.service _PID=28097 + _SYSTEMD_UNIT=dbus.service

Show all logs generated by the D-Bus executable:

journalctl /usr/bin/dbus-daemon

Show all kernel logs from previous boot:

journalctl -k -b -1

Show a live log display from a system service apache.service:

journalctl -f -u apache