head -n

Show the first N lines of a file

head -n 20 prints the first 20 lines. Without -n it defaults to 10. Useful for checking file format, headers, or the beginning of a log.

Example

$ head -n 5 /var/log/nginx/access.log
192.168.1.1 - - [15/Jan] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 612

Tip: Type it yourself in the terminal below - reading is not the same as doing.