man > head(1)

HEAD(1)                                     User Commands                                    HEAD(1)

NAME
       head - output the first part of files

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

DESCRIPTION
       Print  the  first 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.  With more than one FILE, precede
       each with a header giving the file name.

       With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

       Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

       -c, --bytes=[-]NUM
              print the first NUM bytes of each file; with the leading '-', print all but  the  last
              NUM bytes of each file

       -n, --lines=[-]NUM
              print the first NUM lines instead of the first 10; with the leading '-', print all but
              the last NUM lines of each file

       -q, --quiet, --silent
              never print headers giving file names

       -v, --verbose
              always print headers giving file names

       -z, --zero-terminated
              line delimiter is NUL, not newline

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

       NUM  may  have  a  multiplier  suffix:  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.

AUTHOR
       Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright  ©  2023 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.

SEE ALSO
       tail(1)

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

GNU coreutils 9.4                           January 2026                                     HEAD(1)