1.\" $NetBSD: head.1,v 1.12 2004/05/04 23:44:21 wiz Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 15.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 16.\" without specific prior written permission. 17.\" 18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 28.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 29.\" 30.\" from: @(#)head.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 31.\" 32.Dd May 4, 2004 33.Dt HEAD 1 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm head 37.Nd display first lines of a file 38.Sh SYNOPSIS 39.Nm 40.Op Fl qv 41.Op Fl n Ar count 42.Op Fl c Ar byte_count 43.Op Ar file ... 44.Sh DESCRIPTION 45This filter displays the first 46.Ar count 47lines of each of the specified files, or of the standard input if no 48files are specified. 49If 50.Ar count 51is omitted it defaults to 10. 52If 53.Fl c Ar byte_count 54is specified, 55.Nm 56counts bytes instead of lines. 57.Pp 58If more than a single file is specified, or the 59.Fl v 60option is used, each file is preceded by a header consisting of the string 61.Dq ==\*[Gt] XXX \*[Le]= 62where 63.Dq XXX 64is the name of the file. 65The 66.Fl q 67flag disables the printing of the header in all cases. 68.Pp 69The 70.Nm 71utility exits 0 on success, and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurs. 72.Sh COMPATIBILITY 73The historic command line syntax of 74.Nm 75is supported by this implementation. 76.Pp 77This command is mostly compatible with GNU extensions to 78.Nm . 79.Sh SEE ALSO 80.Xr tail 1 81.Sh STANDARDS 82The 83.Nm 84utility conforms to 85.St -p1003.2-92 . 86.Sh HISTORY 87The 88.Nm 89utility appeared in 90.Bx 3.0 . 91It was enhanced to include the 92.Fl c , 93.Fl q , 94and 95.Fl v 96options for 97.Nx 2.1 . 98