I tested and the contents are same.
% fluentd -c in_forward.conf
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: reading config file path="in_forward.conf"
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: starting fluentd-0.12.29
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-mixin-config-placeholders' version '0.3.1'
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-beats' version '0.1.1'
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-elasticsearch' version '1.7.0'
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-flowcounter-simple' version '0.0.4'
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-s3' version '0.7.1'
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-secure-forward' version '0.4.2'
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-td' version '0.10.29'
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluentd' version '0.12.29'
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: adding match pattern="debug.**" type="stdout"
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: adding source type="forward"
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: using configuration file: <ROOT>
<source>
@type forward
</source>
<match debug.**>
@type stdout
</match>
</ROOT>
2016-10-19 21:26:10 +0900 [info]: listening fluent socket on
0.0.0.0:24224^C2016-10-19 21:26:11 +0900 [info]: shutting down fluentd
2016-10-19 21:26:11 +0900 [info]: shutting down input type="forward" plugin_id="object:3fda99951ba0"
2016-10-19 21:26:11 +0900 [info]: shutting down output type="stdout" plugin_id="object:3fda9988d9a8"
2016-10-19 21:26:11 +0900 [info]: process finished code=0
% fluentd -c in_forward.conf -o in_forward.log
^C
% /Users/repeatedly/tmp/fluentd% cat in_forward.log
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: reading config file path="in_forward.conf"
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: starting fluentd-0.12.29
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-mixin-config-placeholders' version '0.3.1'
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-beats' version '0.1.1'
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-elasticsearch' version '1.7.0'
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-flowcounter-simple' version '0.0.4'
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-s3' version '0.7.1'
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-secure-forward' version '0.4.2'
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluent-plugin-td' version '0.10.29'
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: gem 'fluentd' version '0.12.29'
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: adding match pattern="debug.**" type="stdout"2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: adding source type="forward"
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: using configuration file: <ROOT>
<source>
@type forward
</source>
<match debug.**>
@type stdout
</match>
</ROOT>
2016-10-19 21:26:18 +0900 [info]: listening fluent socket on
0.0.0.0:242242016-10-19 21:26:20 +0900 [info]: shutting down fluentd
2016-10-19 21:26:20 +0900 [info]: shutting down input type="forward" plugin_id="object:3ff159c37384"
2016-10-19 21:26:20 +0900 [info]: shutting down output type="stdout" plugin_id="object:3ff15986f328"
2016-10-19 21:26:20 +0900 [info]: process finished code=0