View the Beginning of Text Files with head
Updated by Linode Written by Linode
The head command is a core Linux utility used to view the very beginning of a text file. Despite its narrow functionality, head is useful in many systems administration and scripting tasks. For similar functionality that address the end of a file, use the tail utility instead.
Using head
List the file or files you want to view after the head command:
head /etc/rc.conf
This will print the first 10 lines of /etc/rc.conf to standard output. If a file has fewer than 10 lines, head will print the entire file.
Control the Length of Output
With the -n option, the number of lines that head outputs can be modified:
head -n 24 /etc/logrotate.conf
This prints the first 24 lines of /etc/logrotate.conf to the terminal. You can specify the number of lines before or after you declare the file:
head /etc/logrotate.conf -n 24
If a file is smaller than the specified number of lines, head will print the entire file.
View Multiple Files
head can process multiple files at once:
head example.txt names.txt
==> example.txt <==
lollipop
The Joke
Jockey to the Fair
Simon's Fancy
Truckles
==> names.txt <==
John
Susan
Michael
Robert
Justin
Herbert
Marissa
George
Jacob
To view the first line of every file in a directory, you can use the -n option combined with the * wild card:
head -n 1 *
View Command Output
By using the pipe operator, head can be used to filter the output of commands as well as files:
cat --help | head -n 2
Usage: cat [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output.
ls /usr/lib | head
alsa-lib
ao
apr.exp
apr-util-1
aprutil.exp
aspell
aspell-0.60
avahi
awk
bmp
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