The head command displays the first few lines at the top of a file. It can be useful when you want a quick peek at a large file, as an
alternative to opening the file with a text editor. By default, head will show the first ten lines of a file, but you can also tell it how
many lines to display. Here are a couple of examples:
head some.file Show first ten lines of some.file.
head -5 some.file Show first five lines of
The tail Command
The tail command displays the last few lines of a file. Like head, it can save you time, because it's a lot quicker than calling up a file with a text editor and scrolling all the way down to the bottom. By default, tail will show the last ten lines of a file, but you can also tell it how many lines to display:
tail some.file Show last ten lines of s
ome.file.
tail -3 some.file Show last three lines of some.file.
Here's a practical example of how to use the tail command. Many Linux programs put diagnostic messages in the /var/syslog/messages file when they run, so this file can get pretty large after a while. To see if your most recent command issued any messages, look at the tail end of this file by entering the tail /var/syslog/messages command.
For more information on the head command, see the head manual.
For more information on the tail command, see the tail manual.
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Comments (most recent first)
Bob Rankin (25 Aug 2010, 14:44)
@Abhilash - Thanks! I'll be waiting for you to send your updates. How
soon should I expect the "full info"?
Abhilash (25 Aug 2010, 01:40)
Thanq but u have not given full info about it
raghu (10 Aug 2010, 07:24)
how to print 1st 10 lines using telnet command
deepak pandey (03 May 2010, 20:52)
how many lines selected in head & tail command
Sam (26 Apr 2010, 22:12)
There could be a empty line at the end of the file
Deepak Soni (15 Apr 2010, 02:11)
When i using the tail command as
tail -1 "file_name". then it not show on the telnet screen. and using the command as tail -2 "file_name". then it shows the last line of the file. why it not show the last line with tail -1 "file_name". please reply.
R.L. (10 Apr 2010, 08:19)
Thanks a lot, this pages on Linux data manipulation helped me with my
university's exam project.
Bob Rankin (02 Apr 2010, 15:40)
Okay, let's play a mail game. You send me $1000 through mail, and then
I'll guide you about command!
Gagandeep Singh (01 Apr 2010, 23:29)
Guide me about command through mail...
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