---
name: "head"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/head"
---

# head(1)

display first few lines of files

## NAME

**head** – display first few lines of files

## SYNOPSIS

**head** \[**-***count* \| **-n** *count*\] \[*file ...*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **head** utility copies the first *count* lines of each specified *file* to the standard output. If no files are named, **head** copies lines from the standard input. If *count* is omitted, it defaults to 10.

The options are as follows:

- **-***count* \| **-n** *count*

  Copy the first *count* lines of each input file to the standard output. *count* must be a positive decimal integer.

If more than one file is specified, **head** precedes the output of each file with the following, in order to distinguish files:

```
==> file <==
```

## EXIT STATUS

The **head** utility exits 0 on success, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## EXAMPLES

To display the first 500 lines of the file *foo*:

```
$ head -n 500 foo
```

**head** can be used in conjunction with [tail(1)](/tail/1.md) in the following way to, for example, display only line 500 from the file *foo*:

```
$ head -n 500 foo | tail -1
```

## SEE ALSO

[cat(1)](/cat/1.md), [cut(1)](/cut/1.md), [less(1)](/less/1.md), [more(1)](/more/1.md), [tail(1)](/tail/1.md)

## STANDARDS

The **head** utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.

The historic syntax **-***count* is supported by this implementation.

## HISTORY

The **head** utility first appeared in 1BSD.

## AUTHORS

Bill Joy, August 24, 1977.