.TH HEAD 1L "GNU Text Utilities" "FSF" \" -*- nroff -*-
.SH NAME
head \- output the first part of files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B head
[\-c N[bkm]] [\-n N] [\-qv] [\-\-bytes=N[bkm]] [\-\-lines=N]
[\-\-quiet] [\-\-silent] [\-\-verbose] [\-\-help] [\-\-version] [file...]

.B head
[\-Nbcklmqv] [file...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
This manual page
documents the GNU version of
.BR head .
.B head
prints the first part (10 lines by default) of each given file; it
reads from standard input if no files are given or when a filename of
`\-' is encountered.  If more than one file is given, it prints a
header consisting of the file's name enclosed in `==>' and `<=='
before the output for each file.
.SS OPTIONS
.PP
.B head
accepts two option formats: the new one, in which numbers are
arguments to the option letters, and the old one, in which the number
precedes any option letters.
.TP
.I "\-c N, \-\-bytes N"
Print first N bytes.  N is a nonzero integer, optionally followed by one
of the following characters to specify a different unit.
.RS
.IP b
512-byte blocks.
.IP k
1-kilobyte blocks.
.IP m
1-megabyte blocks.
.RE
.TP
.I "\-l, \-n N, \-\-lines N"
Print first N lines.
.TP
.I "\-q, \-\-quiet, \-\-silent"
Never print filename headers.
.TP
.I "\-v, \-\-verbose"
Always print filename headers.
.TP
.I "\-\-help"
Print a usage message and exit with a non-zero status.
.TP
.I "\-\-version"
Print version information on standard error then exit.