Output the first part of files, prints the first part (10 lines by default) of each file.
SYNTAX head [options]... [file]... Options: -NUMBER Return the first NUMBER of lines from the file. (must be the first option specified) -CountOptions
This option is only recognized if it is specified first. Count is a decimal number optionally followed by a size letter (‘b’, ‘k’,
‘m’ for bytes, Kilobytes or Megabytes) , or ‘l’ to mean count by lines, or other option letters (‘cqv’).
-c BYTES --bytes=BYTES Print the first BYTES bytes, instead of initial lines. Appending 'b' multiplies BYTES by 512, 'k' by 1024, and 'm' by 1048576. -n N --lines=N Output the first N lines. -q --quiet --silent Never print file name headers. -v --verbose Always print file name headers.
If no files are given (or if given a FILE of ‘-‘) head will read from standard input.
If more than one FILE is specified, ‘head’ will print a one-line header consisting of ==> FILE NAME <== before the output for each FILE.
Two option formats are accepted: the new one, in which numbers are arguments to the options (‘-q -n 1’), and the old one, in which the number precedes any option letters (‘-1q’)
Examples
Extract the first 85 lines from a file:
head -85 file,txt
Extract lines 40-50 from a file, first using head to get the first 50 lines then tail to get the last 10:
head -50 file.txt | tail -10
Related linux commands:
csplit – Split a file into context-determined pieces
cut – Divide a file into several parts
fmt – Reformat paragraph text
paste – Merge lines of files
split – Split a file into fixed-size pieces
tail – Output the last part of files
Equivalent Windows command: FOR /F “skip=nlines” – Loop through items in a text file