NAME
head —
display first lines of a
file
SYNOPSIS
head |
[-qv]
[-n count]
[-c
byte_count]
[file ...] |
DESCRIPTION
This filter displays the first
count lines of each of the
specified files, or of the standard input if no files are specified. If
count is omitted it defaults to 10. If
-c byte_count is specified,
head counts bytes instead of lines.
If more than a single file is specified, or the
-v option is
used, each file is preceded by a header consisting of the string “==>
XXX ≤=” where “XXX” is the name of the file. The
-q flag disables the printing of the header in all cases.
The
head utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error
occurs.
COMPATIBILITY
The historic command line syntax of
head is supported by this
implementation.
This command is mostly compatible with GNU extensions to
head.
SEE ALSO
tail(1)
STANDARDS
The
head utility conforms to
IEEE Std
1003.2-1992 (“POSIX.2”).
HISTORY
The
head utility appeared in
3.0BSD.
It was enhanced to include the
-c,
-q, and
-v options for
NetBSD 2.1.