head Command head Print the beginning of a file head [+n[bcl]] [file] head [-n[bcl]] [file] head copies the first part of file, or of the standard input if none is named, to the standard output. The given number tells head where to begin to copy the data. Numbers of the form +number measure the starting point from the beginning of the file; those of the form -number measure from the end of the file. A specifier of blocks, characters, or lines (b, c, or l, respec- tively) may follow the number; the default is lines. If no num- ber is specified, a default of +4 is assumed. ***** See Also ***** commands, dd, egrep, sed, tail ***** Notes ***** Because head buffers data measured from the end of the file, large counts may not work. COHERENT Lexicon Page 1