head.1 (2010 09)

h
head(1) head(1)
NAME
head - give first few lines
SYNOPSIS
head [-c-l][-n
count ][file ... ]
Obsolescent:
head [-count ][file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
head prints on standard output the first count lines of each of the specified files, or of the standard input.
If count is omitted it defaults to 10.
If multiple files are specified,
head outputs before each file a line of this form:
==> file <==
Options
-c The quantity of output is measured in bytes.
-count The number of units of output. This option is provided for backward compatibility (see
-n below) and is mutually exclusive of all other options.
-l The quantity of output is measured in lines; this is the default.
-n count The number of lines (default) or bytes output. count is an unsigned decimal integer. If
-n (or -count) is not given, the default quantity is 10. This option provides the same
functionality as the -count option, but in a more standard way. Use of the -n option is
recommended where portability between systems is important.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables
LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of text within file as single and/or multi-byte characters.
LC_MESSAGES determines the language in which messages are displayed.
If
LC_CTYPE or LC_MESSAGES is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the
value of LANG is used as a default for each unspecified or empty variable. If
LANG is not specified or is
set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang (5)) is used instead of
LANG.
If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting,
head behaves as if all internationaliza-
tion variables are set to "C". See environ (5).
International Code Set Support
Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.
WARNINGS
The length of the input lines is limited to {
LINE_MAX}bytes.
SEE ALSO
tail(1), cat(1), more(1), pg(1).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
head: SVID3, XPG4, POSIX.2
HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company 1