48 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
48 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Bash Head
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---
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## Bash command: head
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Head is used to print the first ten lines (by default) or any other amount specified of a file or files.
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Cat is used to read a file sequentially and print it to the standard output. <br>
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ie prints out the entire contents of the entire file. - that is not always necessary, perhaps you just want to check the contents of a file to see if it is the correct one, or check that it is indeed not empty.
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The head command allows you to view the first N lines of a file.
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If more than one file is called. then the first ten lines of each file is displayed, unless specific number of lines are specified.
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Choosing to display the file header is optional using the option below
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### Usage
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```bash
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head [options] [file_name(s)]
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```
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Most used options:
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* `-n N`, prints out the first N lines of the file(s)
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* `-q`, doesn't print out the file headers
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* `-v`, always prints out the file headers
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* `-z`, --zero-terminated | line delimiter is NUL, not newline
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### Example
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```bash
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head file.txt
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```
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Prints in terminal the first ten lines of file.txt (default)
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```bash
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head -n 7 file.txt
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```
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Prints in terminal the first seven lines of file.txt
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```bash
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head -q -n 5 file1.txt file2.txt
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```
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Print in terminal the first 5 lines of file1.txt, followed by the first 5 lines of file2.txt
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### More Information:
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* [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_(Unix))
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