The Linux Newbie Guide - head Command

The Linux Newbie Guide

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Fundamentals

head - Read the Beginning of a File

Compared to cat, which reads the entire content of a file, head by default only reads the first 10 lines of a text file.

The syntax of the head command is as follows:
head [OPTIONS] [FILE] .

Some common options for the head command include:

-n: Specify the number of lines to display.
-c: Specify the number of characters to display.
-q: Display only non-empty lines.
-v: Display only empty lines.

Example:

$ head FILE ←Reads the first 10 lines of the file "FILE."
$ head -n 50 FILE1 > FILE2 ←Saves the first 50 lines of "FILE1" as a new file named "FILE2."
$ ls --help | head ←Displays only the first 10 lines of the online manual for the "ls" command.

For more detailed options and parameters, please refer to the link provided