# MaxLinesAtOnce

Legacy polling-mode limit on how many lines are read before switching files.

This parameter applies to imfile: Text File Input Module.

Name:

  MaxLinesAtOnce

Scope:

  input

Type:

  integer

Default:

  0

Required?:

  no

Introduced:

  at least 5.x, possibly earlier

## Description

This legacy setting is only supported in polling mode. In inotify mode it is fixed at `0` and attempts to set a different value are ignored but generate an error message. Future versions may remove this parameter.

In polling mode, a value of `0` processes each file completely before switching to the next. Any other value limits processing to the specified number of lines before moving to the next file, providing a form of load multiplexing. For polling mode, the default is `10240`.

## Input usage

    input(type="imfile"
          File="/var/log/example.log"
          Tag="example"
          MaxLinesAtOnce="0")

### Legacy names (for reference)

Historic names/directives for compatibility. Do not use in new configs.

- `$InputFileMaxLinesAtOnce` — maps to MaxLinesAtOnce (status: legacy)

## See also

See also imfile: Text File Input Module.

Support: rsyslog Assistant | GitHub Discussions | GitHub Issues: rsyslog source project

Contributing: Source & docs: rsyslog source project

© 2008–2025 Rainer Gerhards and others. Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.