HEAD(1)

📦
version 9.12 · 27 versions
, in arch rolling

💖 NAME 💖

head — output the first part of files, bestie. that's it, that's the whole job. it's head(1), from the User Commands manual, and it is so useful you're gonna be obsessed. ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

head [OPTION]... [FILE]...

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the tea: head prints the first 10 lines of each FILE straight to standard output. that's the default, no cap. 🫶

if you hand it more than one FILE, it slaps a header before each one so you know which file's which. very considerate of it, honestly. 👑

if you give it no FILE at all, or you pass FILE as -, it reads from standard input instead. classic.

heads up bestie: mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. that means if the long one needs a value, the short one does too. no shortcuts around it. 💅

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -c, --bytes=[-]NUM — prints the first NUM bytes of each file. but if NUM has a leading -, it flips the whole vibe and prints all but the last NUM bytes of each file. not me giving you two tools in one flag 😭
  • -n, --lines=[-]NUM — prints the first NUM lines instead of the default first 10. and again, leading -? it prints all but the last NUM lines of each file. iconic behaviour honestly.
  • -q, --quiet, --silent — never print headers giving file names. shhh. 🤫
  • -v, --verbose — always print headers giving file names. loud and proud, main character energy. 📣
  • -z, --zero-terminated — the line delimiter is NUL, not newline. for when your data is built different. 🧚
  • --help — display this help and exit. your little pocket bestie. 🎀
  • --version — output version information and exit. 🌈

NUM may have a multiplier suffix, and here's the full list because we do not gatekeep:

  • b = 512
  • kB = 1000
  • K = 1024
  • MB = 1000*1000
  • M = 1024*1024
  • GB = 1000*1000*1000
  • G = 1024*1024*1024
  • and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y, R, Q. 🔥

binary prefixes can be used too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on. so fancy. ✨

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering. legends, fr fr. 🫶

🙈 REPORTING BUGS 🙈

found a bug? don't just scream about it in the group chat, tell the people who can actually fix it:

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. like, zero. none. don't come for them. 💀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

  • tail(1) — the other half of the duo, iykyk 🦋

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/head> — or available locally via: info '(coreutils) head invocation'

k bye bestie, go print some lines 💅✨ this was GNU coreutils 9.12, from September 2026, and yes it really is HEAD(1) — slay, periodt. 🎀🫶

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