The head
command is used to display the first few lines of a file. By default, it shows the first 10 lines, but you can customize the number of lines to display. This command is useful for quickly viewing the start of a file without opening the entire file.
Initial Example
Using head
to display the first 10 lines of a file called example.txt
:
head example.txt
HEAD Parameter
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
-c, --bytes=[-]NUM | Display the first NUM bytes of each file; use a leading ‘-‘ to exclude the last NUM bytes |
-n, --lines=[-]NUM | Show the first NUM lines instead of the default 10; use a leading ‘-‘ to exclude the last NUM lines |
-q, --quiet, --silent | Suppress the display of file name headers |
-v, --verbose | Always show file name headers, even with a single file |
-z, --zero-terminated | Use NUL as the line delimiter instead of newline |
--help | Display help information and exit |
--version | Show version information and exit |
Examples
1. Display the First 10 Lines of a File
To view the first 10 lines of a file (default behavior):
head filename.txt
2. Display a Specific Number of Lines
To display a specific number of lines from the beginning of a file, use the -n
option followed by the number of lines:
head -n 5 filename.txt
3. Display the First Few Bytes of a File
To display the first few bytes of a file, use the -c
option followed by the number of bytes:
head -c 20 filename.txt
4. Combine Options
You can combine options to tailor the output to your needs. For example, to display the first 3 lines and the first 20 bytes of a file:
head -n 3 -c 20 filename.txt
5. Display the First 10 Lines of Multiple Files
To display the first 10 lines of multiple files, specify the file names separated by spaces:
head file1.txt file2.txt