Linux File Processing: head and tail examples

Linux File Processing: head and tail examples

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Output first N lines

Use head -n N

Example: output first 2 lines

$ head -n 2 file.txt
1) line 1
2) line 2

Output last N lines

Example: output last 4 lines of file

$ tail -n 4 multiline-file.txt 
3) line 3
4) line 4
5) line 5
6) line 6

Output lines starting at line N

Use tail -n +N

Example: output lines starting at line 3

  • source file has 6 lines

    1) line 1
    2) line 2
    3) line 3
    4) line 4
    5) line 5
    6) line 6
    
  • Use tail -n +3 to output lines string at line 3:

    $ tail -n +3 file.txt 
    3) line 3
    4) line 4
    5) line 5
    6) line 6
    

Output first N lines, skip first line

Can be done with a combination of head and tail.

Example: print first 3 lines of csv file, without the header

  • The source file looks like this:

    "name","age","home_state"
    "alice",14,"AK"
    "bob",20,"DC"
    "charlie",49,"CA"
    "david",13,"CA"
    "eugene",33,"NY"
    
  • Run tail -n +2 file.csv | head -n 3:

    $ tail -n +2 file.csv | head -n 3 
    "alice",14,"AK"
    "bob",20,"DC"
    "charlie",49,"CA"
    

Reference