NAME
head
—
display first few lines of
files
SYNOPSIS
head |
[- count |
-n count]
[file ...] |
DESCRIPTION
The head
utility copies the first
count lines of each specified
file to the standard output. If no files are named,
head
copies lines from the standard input. If
count is omitted, it defaults to 10.
The options are as follows:
-
count |-n
count- Copy the first count lines of each input file to the standard output. count must be a positive decimal integer.
If more than one file is specified, head
precedes the output of each file with the following, in order to distinguish
the head of each file:
==> file
<==
EXIT STATUS
The head
utility exits 0 on
success, and >0 if an error occurs.
EXAMPLES
To display the first 500 lines of the file foo:
$ head -500 foo
head
can be used in conjunction with
tail(1) in the following way to, for example, display only line 500
from the file foo:
$ head -500 foo | tail
-1
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The head
utility is compliant with the
IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”)
specification.
The historic command line syntax is supported by this implementation.
HISTORY
The head
utility first appeared in
1BSD.
AUTHORS
Bill Joy, August 24, 1977.