`head` Show the first lines of a file

Prints the first part of a file, ten lines by default. Use it to peek at a large file, check a CSV header, or take the top few results from another command.

Synopsis

head [-n count | -c bytes] [file ...]

Common options

Option or form	What it does
`-n count`	Print the first count lines instead of 10. Also written -n5 or, as a shorthand, -5
`-c bytes`	Print the first bytes bytes instead of lines. A multi-byte character can be cut in half
`-5`	Old shorthand for -n 5. Any number works.
`-n -count`	GNU only: print everything except the last count lines. macOS head rejects it with an illegal line count error
`-q`	GNU only: never print the ==> name <== header when given several files. macOS head has no -q
`-v`	GNU only: always print the file name header, even for one file. macOS head has no -v

Examples

First 10 lines of a file

head notes.txt

Only the first 3 lines

head -n 3 notes.txt

alpha
beta error
gamma

Show the header row of a CSV file

head -n 1 data.csv

name,team,score

Peek at several files at once

head -n 2 notes.txt app.log

==> notes.txt <==
alpha
beta error

==> app.log <==
2026-01-01 INFO start
2026-01-01 ERROR failed to open

Take the top two lines of another command's output

sort words.txt | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -n 2

Print only line 3 of a file

head -n 3 notes.txt | tail -n 1

gamma

Notes

With more than one file, head prints a header such as ==> notes.txt <== before each one. With a single file there is no header.
The macOS head has only -n and -c. Scripts that use -q, -v or a negative count (head -n -3) work on Linux but fail on macOS. On macOS, sed '$d' drops only the last line.
If a file has fewer lines than the count, head prints the whole file. It does not report an error.
To see the end of a file instead, use tail. To page through a whole file, use less.

head Show the first lines of a file

Synopsis

Common options

Examples

Notes

See also

`head` Show the first lines of a file