First Lines

Viewing the Start of a File

When a file is large, you often want to see just the beginning or end — not the whole thing. head and tail are built for this.

The head Command

head prints the first lines of a file. By default it shows 10 lines:

head notes.txt

Specifying the Number of Lines

Use -n to control how many lines are shown:

head -n 2 notes.txt

If notes.txt contains:

Learn Linux
Practice daily
Have fun

Then head -n 2 notes.txt outputs:

Learn Linux
Practice daily

The tail Command

tail is the mirror image: it shows the last N lines:

tail -n 1 notes.txt

Output:

Have fun

Following a File in Real Time

One powerful use of tail is watching log files as they grow:

tail -f /var/log/app.log

The -f flag (follow) keeps the command running and prints new lines as they are appended.

Your Task

Print the first 2 lines of notes.txt using head -n 2.