HEAD(1) User Commands HEAD(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

head - output the first part of files

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**head** \[*OPTION*]... \[*FILE*]...

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Print the first 10 lines of each FILE to standard output. With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving the file name.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

[**-c, --bytes=\[-\]NUM**](#c,)

print the first NUM bytes of each file; with the leading '-', print all but the last NUM bytes of each file

[**-n, --lines=\[-\]NUM**](#n,)

print the first NUM lines instead of the first 10; with the leading '-', print all but the last NUM lines of each file

[**-q, --quiet, --silent**](#q,)

never print headers giving file names

[**-v, --verbose**](#v,)

always print headers giving file names

[**-z, --zero-terminated**](#z,)

line delimiter is NUL, not newline

[**--help**](#help)

display this help and exit

[**--version**](#version)

output version information and exit

NUM may have a multiplier suffix: b 512, kB 1000, K 1024, MB 1000\*1000, M 1024\*1024, GB 1000\*1000\*1000, G 1024\*1024\*1024, and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y, R, Q. Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on.

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

Report bugs to: <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.  
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.  
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>  
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.  
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**tail**(1)](/man/os/coreutils/tail.1)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/head>  
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) head invocation'

October 2026 GNU coreutils 9.12

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Document: head(1) from coreutils 9.12-r6 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/coreutils.git