get 10/20 lines from the top of the file

10-lines-from-the-top.txt

head command example to print first 10/20 lines
head -10 bar.txt
head -20 bar.txt

sed command example to print first 10/20 lines
sed -n 1,10p /etc/group
sed -n 1,20p /etc/group

awk command example to print first 10/20 lines
awk 'FNR <= 10' /etc/passwd

Type the following awk command to display first 20 lines of a file named “/etc/passwd”:

awk 'FNR <= 20' /etc/passwd

perl command example to view first 10/20 lines of a file

Type the following perl command to display first 10 lines of a file named “/etc/passwd”:

perl -ne'1..10 and print' /etc/passwd

Type the following perl command to display first 20 lines of a file named “/etc/passwd”:

perl -ne'1..20 and print' /etc/passwd

Sample outputs from sed, awk, head, and perl commands:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
uucp:x:10:14:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/sbin/nologin