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[UPDATE] View the Beginning of Text Files with head #1484

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55 changes: 28 additions & 27 deletions docs/tools-reference/tools/view-the-beginning-of-text-files-with-head.md
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Expand Up @@ -2,60 +2,57 @@
author:
name: Linode
email: [email protected]
description: Use the Linux command head to view the beginning of a text file
keywords: ["head", "linux", "common commands", "cli"]
description: 'Use the Linux command head to view the beginning of a text file'
og_description: 'Head is a Unix command line utility for viewing the beginning of text files. This guide shows how to use head and gives practical examples.'
keywords: ["head", "linux", "utilities", "cli", "text files"]
license: '[CC BY-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0)'
aliases: ['linux-tools/common-commands/head/']
modified: 2011-04-19
modified: 2018-02-02
modified_by:
name: Linode
published: 2010-10-25
title: View the Beginning of Text Files with head
---

The `head` command is a core Linux utility used to view the very beginning of a text file. Despite its narrow functionality, `head` is useful in many systems administration and scripting tasks. For similar functionality that address the end of a file, consider the tail utility.
The `head` command is a core Linux utility used to view the very beginning of a text file. Despite its narrow functionality, `head` is useful in many systems administration and scripting tasks. For similar functionality that address the end of a file, use the [tail](/docs/tools-reference/tools/view-and-follow-the-end-of-text-files-with-tail/) utility instead.

![Title graphic](/docs/assets/view_the_beginning_of_text_files_with_head_smg.png)
![View Beginning of Files with Head](/docs/assets/view_the_beginning_of_text_files_with_head_smg.png)

## Using head

Consider the following invocation:
List the file or files you want to view after the `head` command:

head /etc/rc.conf

This will print the first 10 lines of the `/etc/rc.conf` file to standard output on the terminal. Thus, `head` is useful for a number of different situations such as determining the contents of a file if the file names are ambiguous.
This will print the first 10 lines of `/etc/rc.conf` to standard output. If a file has fewer than 10 lines, `head` will print the entire file.

If a file has fewer than 10 lines, `head` will print the entire file.
### Control the Length of Output

### Control the Length of Output with head

With the `-n` option, the number of lines that `head` outputs can be modified. For example:
With the `-n` option, the number of lines that `head` outputs can be modified:

head -n 24 /etc/logrotate.conf

This prints the first 24 lines of the `/etc/logrotate.conf` file to the terminal. You can specify the number of lines before or after you declare the file. Therefore, the following command is equivalent to the previous command:
This prints the first 24 lines of `/etc/logrotate.conf` to the terminal. You can specify the number of lines before or after you declare the file:

head /etc/logrotate.conf -n 24

If a file is smaller than the specified number of lines, `head` will print the entire file.

### View the Beginning of Multiple Files with head
### View Multiple Files

`head` can process multiple files at once. Consider the following:
`head` can process multiple files at once:

{{< output >}}
$ ls
example roster
head example.txt names.txt

$ head *
==> example <==
{{< output >}}
==> example.txt <==
lollipop
The Joke
Jockey to the Fair
Simon's Fancy
Truckles

==> roster <==
==> names.txt <==
John
Susan
Michael
Expand All @@ -68,18 +65,24 @@ George
Jacob
{{< /output >}}

`head` outputs the first ten lines of each file by default. If you are using `head` to read more than one file, you may also use the `-n` option to control the number of lines printed.
To view the first line of every file in a directory, you can use the `-n` option combined with the `*` wild card:

head -n 1 *

### View Command Output

### Combine head with Other Commands
By using the pipe operator, `head` can be used to filter the output of commands as well as files:

`head` can be used to filter the output of commands as well as files. For instance:
cat --help | head -n 2

{{< output >}}
% cat --help | head -n 2
Usage: cat [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output.
{{< /output >}}

ls /usr/lib | head

$ ls /usr/lib | head
{{< output >}}
alsa-lib
ao
apr.exp
Expand All @@ -91,5 +94,3 @@ avahi
awk
bmp
{{< /output >}}

In the first example, `head` filters the full output of `cat --help` to generate only the first two lines of the output of the command. In the second example, `head` prints the first ten lines of the output of the `ls` command.