head — output the first part of files
Examples (TL;DR)
-
Output the first few lines of a file:
head -n count_of_lines filename -
Output the first few bytes of a file:
head -c size_in_bytes filename -
Output everything but the last few lines of a file:
head -n -count_of_lines filename -
Output everything but the last few bytes of a file:
head -c -size_in_bytes filename
Synopsis
head [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Description
Print the first 10 lines of each FILE to standard output. With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving the file name.
With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
- -c, --bytes=[-]NUM
print the first NUM bytes of each file; with the leading '-', print all but the last NUM bytes of each file
- -n, --lines=[-]NUM
print the first NUM lines instead of the first 10; with the leading '-', print all but the last NUM lines of each file
- -q, --quiet, --silent
never print headers giving file names
- -v, --verbose
always print headers giving file names
- -z, --zero-terminated
line delimiter is NUL, not newline
- --help
display this help and exit
- --version
output version information and exit
NUM may have a multiplier suffix: b 512, kB 1000, K 1024, MB 1000*1000, M 1024*1024, GB 1000*1000*1000, G 1024*1024*1024, and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y. Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on.
Reporting Bugs
GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
See Also
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/head>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) head invocation'