How to display the first part of the file in the Linux system?

The head command in Linux is used to display the first part of a file or piped data. By default, it shows the first 10 lines of the specified file, making it useful for quickly previewing file contents without opening the entire file.

Syntax

The general syntax of the head command is −

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

Common Options

Examples

Basic Usage

First, let's create a sample file with multiple lines −

$ cat > sample.txt
First line
Second line
Third line
Fourth line
Fifth line
Sixth line
Seventh line
Eighth line
Ninth line
Tenth line
Eleventh line
Twelfth line

Display the first 10 lines (default behavior) −

$ head sample.txt

First line
Second line
Third line
Fourth line
Fifth line
Sixth line
Seventh line
Eighth line
Ninth line
Tenth line

Display Specific Number of Lines

To display the first 5 lines −

$ head -n 5 sample.txt

First line
Second line
Third line
Fourth line
Fifth line

Display First N Bytes

To display the first 20 bytes −

$ head -c 20 sample.txt

First line
Second li

Display Lines Between Two Numbers

To display lines 3 to 6, combine head and tail commands −

$ head -n 6 sample.txt | tail -n 4

Third line
Fourth line
Fifth line
Sixth line

Multiple Files

When processing multiple files, head displays headers by default −

$ head -n 3 file1.txt file2.txt

==> file1.txt <==
Line 1 of file1
Line 2 of file1
Line 3 of file1

==> file2.txt <==
Line 1 of file2
Line 2 of file2
Line 3 of file2

Use -q option to suppress headers −

$ head -n 2 -q file1.txt file2.txt

Common Use Cases

• Log file inspection − Quickly view the beginning of log files

• Configuration preview − Check the start of configuration files

• Data sampling − Preview the first few records of data files

• Script debugging − View the beginning of script output

Conclusion

The head command is an essential Linux utility for viewing the beginning of files efficiently. Combined with other commands like tail, it provides powerful text processing capabilities for file analysis and system administration tasks.