Coloured Tail file
Coloured Tail File
Log file Column Colours
Here is an example for colouring columns while tailing a file.
while IFS='| ' read -a columns; do for c in "${!columns[@]}"; do printf '| %s%s%s ' "$(tput setaf $c)" "${columns[c]}" "$(tput sgr0)"; done; echo '|'; done < /var/log/tomcat5/statistics.log
useful: http://linuxtidbits.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/output-color-on-bash-scripts/