`head` command

Show the first lines of a file.

Text processing
Package coreutils
4 options · 5 examples

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Syntax
Common options
Examples
Guides
Related commands

Syntax

head [options] [file…]

Provided by the coreutils package. Run man head for the full manual.

Common options

Option	What it does
`-n N`	Show the first N lines (default 10)
`-n -N`	Show everything except the last N lines
`-c N`	Show the first N bytes
`-q`	Don't print file name headers

Examples

First 10 lines
```
head file.txt
```
First 20 lines
```
head -n 20 access.log
```
All but the last 5 lines
```
head -n -5 data.csv
```
First 100 bytes
```
head -c 100 file.bin
```
Top 5 largest items in a directory
```
du -sh * | sort -rh | head -5
```

head guides

head Command in Linux with Examples Linux Commands · Updated Apr 2025

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