head

head linux command cheatsheet by Thamizhiniyan C S

Introduction

The head command is used to output the first part of files.

head [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Flag Description

Flag	Description
`-n num`	Prints the first ‘num’ lines instead of the first 10 lines.
`-c num`	Prints the first ‘num’ bytes from the file specified.
`-q`	Suppresses printing filenames when more than one file is given.
`-v`	Prints data from the specified file preceded by its filename.

-n num

Prints the first ‘num’ lines instead of the first 10 lines.

-c num

Prints the first ‘num’ bytes from the file specified.

-q

Suppresses printing filenames when more than one file is given.

-v

Prints data from the specified file preceded by its filename.

Command Description

Command	Description
`head -n 20 file.txt \| tail -10`	To print lines between 10 and 20 in file.txt.
`ls -t \| head -n 3`	Pipe the output of ls command to head to show only the three most recently modified files or folders.
`ls -t \| head -n 3 \| sort`	Pipe the output of ls command to head and sort to display the three most recently used files or folders in alphabetical order.

head -n 20 file.txt | tail -10

To print lines between 10 and 20 in file.txt.

ls -t | head -n 3

Pipe the output of ls command to head to show only the three most recently modified files or folders.

ls -t | head -n 3 | sort

Pipe the output of ls command to head and sort to display the three most recently used files or folders in alphabetical order.

Last updated 3 months ago