User Commands                                             head(1)



NAME
     head - display first few lines of files

SYNOPSIS
  /usr/bin/head
     /usr/bin/head [ options ] [file...]
 
  ksh93
     head [ options ] [file...]

DESCRIPTION
     head copies one or more input files to standard output
     stopping at a designated point for each file or to the end of
     the file whichever comes first. Copying ends at the point
     indicated by the options. By default a header of the form ==>
     filename <== is output before all but the first file but this
     can be changed with the -q and -v options.

     If no file is given, or if the file is -, head copies from
     standard input starting at the current location.

     The option argument for -c, and -s can optionally be followed
     by one of the following characters to specify a different
     unit other than a single byte:
       b     512 bytes.
       k     1-killobyte.
       m     1-megabyte.

     For backwards compatibility, -number is equivalent to -n
     number.

OPTIONS
     The following options are supported:

     -n, --lines=lines
                     Copy lines lines from each file. The default
                     value is 10.
     -c, --bytes=chars
                     Copy chars bytes from each file.
     -q, --quiet|silent
                     Never ouput filename headers.
     -s, --skip=skip Skip skip characters or lines from each file
                     before copying.
     -v, --verbose   Always ouput filename headers.
     --man, --html, --nroff
                     Prints builtin manual page in either plain
                     text, HTML or nroff format.
     --help          Prints basic help information
     --version       Prints version information

     If no options are specified, head will act as  if  -n 10 had
     been specified.

OPERANDS
     The following operand is supported:

     file            A path name of an input  file.  If  no  file
                     operands  are  specified, the standard input
                     will be used.

USAGE
     See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of head
     when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2
    **31 bytes).

EXAMPLES
     Example 1: Writing the first ten lines of all files

     To write the first ten lines of all files (except those with
     a leading period) in the directory:

     example% head *

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
     See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
     variables  that  affect the execution of head: LANG, LC_ALL,
     LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS
     The following exit values are returned:

     0        Successful completion.



     >0       An error occurred.



ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcsu                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | CSI                         | enabled                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Standard                    |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

    This command conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2008.

SEE ALSO
     cat(1), ksh93(1), more(1), pg(1), tail(1), tee(1),
     attributes(5), environ(5), largefile(5), standards(5),
     http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/head.html


SunOS 5.10           Last change: 1 Feb 1995                    2