Bash 5 reference · Text and System Tools

head and tail (Linux command)

Show the first or last lines of files, skip headers, and follow growing log files with tail -f.

Bash 5

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Syntax

head [-n N] FILE   tail [-n N|+N] [-f] FILE

Parameter	Description
`-n N`	Number of lines.
`tail -n +2`	From line 2 onward (skip a header).
`-f / -F`	Follow new lines (-F survives rotation).

First and last lines

seq 1 10 > n.txt
head -n 2 n.txt | tr '\n' ' '; echo
tail -n 2 n.txt | tr '\n' ' '; echo

Output

1 2 
9 10

Run this on your computer — see “Get Started” for setup.

Skip a CSV header

printf 'id,name\n1,ana\n2,ben\n' | tail -n +2

Output

1,ana
2,ben

Run this on your computer — see “Get Started” for setup.

grep · Search files or input for lines matching a pattern, with options for case, counts, context, recursion and regex.
wc · Count lines, words, characters and bytes in files or input; wc -l is the usual way to count lines or results.
Bash Viewing Files · tutorial