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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallUse head -n 10 filename to show a file’s first 10 lines, or head -n 20 filename to show its first 20. GNU head prints 10 lines by default, so head filename is also sufficient when you want 10.
Show the first 10 or 20 lines
Run the command in a terminal, replacing filename with the path to your file:
head -n 10 notes.txt
head -n 20 notes.txtThe -n option specifies a line count. GNU Coreutils 9.11 documents 10 lines as the default when you omit it; the examples above make the requested count explicit.
Use head with command output or multiple files
Read from a pipeline
When you do not provide a file operand, GNU head reads standard input. Pipe another command into it to display only that command’s first 10 lines:
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some_command | head -n 10You can also use - as a file operand to read standard input.
Display the beginnings of several files
head -n 10 file1.txt file2.txtWith multiple files, GNU head prints a filename header before each file’s output. Use -q (or --quiet) to suppress those headers, or -v (or --verbose) to force them.
Choose lines rather than bytes
For the first 10 or 20 lines, use -n COUNT or GNU’s --lines=COUNT. The -c COUNT or --bytes=COUNT option instead outputs a number of bytes, which may stop partway through a line. GNU also documents size suffixes for byte counts, but flags and details beyond these basic forms can differ across Unix-like implementations.
Use portable syntax in scripts
Prefer head -n 10 file over the older head -10 file form. GNU’s manual describes the leading-count form as obsolete and recommends the explicit -n or -c options for scripts. If a script depends on less common flags or GNU-specific behavior, check the target system’s local head manual; GNU Coreutils 9.11 documentation does not establish that every BSD, BusyBox, or other Unix-like version behaves identically.
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Additional GNU options
-n -COUNToutputs all but the final COUNT lines in GNUhead; verify this behavior on the target system before relying on it outside GNU environments.-z(or--zero-terminated) treats NUL bytes, rather than newline characters, as item separators. GNU documents it for use with NUL-aware tools such asfind -print0andxargs -0.- GNU
headreturns a zero exit status on success and a nonzero status on failure.
These options are documented in the GNU Coreutils 9.11 manual for head. The GNU project manual landing page reports an update date of April 20, 2026; consult the manual installed on your system when implementation-specific behavior matters.
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