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Run head

World's simplest linux tool
This online utility implements a simplified and improved version of the Linux head command, which displays the first part of the given data. You can print the specified number of lines, words, or characters to the screen. Also, you can easily skip all empty lines in the print-lines mode. Created by Linux experts from team Browserling.
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Head Mode
Displays the first N lines.
Displays the first N words.
Displays the first N characters.
Empty Lines
Include blank lines in the output.
Works only when "Print Lines" mode is active.

What is a run head?

learn more about this tool
This browser-based JavaScript program implements the Linux head command and also somewhat improves it. The original head command can output the first N lines or the first N bytes but our browser version can also output the first N words. Also, instead of printing the first N bytes, it prints the first N characters because the browsers don't like raw bytes and UTF8 encoding issues get in the way as well. When printing lines, another extra feature is skipping empty lines. The original head command can't skip empty lines (to skip empty lines you need to combine it with the grep command) but we implemented an option to directly skip empty lines. We made it so that an empty line is a line that contains no symbols or contains only whitespace characters (spaces and tabs). A little known feature of the head program is using a negative line count. If the count is -N, then the program prints all but the last N lines. We also implemented a negative count for words and characters. For example, if you want to print all the words in the input except the last 5, you can choose the word-mode and enter -5 in the word count option. Tuxabulous!

Run head examples

Click to use
Print First 30 Characters
In this example, we use our implementation of the Linux head command to output the starting part of textual data. We select the "Print Characters" mode and enter the number 30 in the character counter field. In the output, we get the first 30 characters that appear in the input string.
The speed of a computer mouse is measured in "Mickeys."
The speed of a computer mouse
Required options
These options will be used automatically if you select this example.
Displays the first N characters.
Include blank lines in the output.
Negative Head Argument
In this example, we use the new feature that we added to this program that finds and prints the specified number of words. We set the word count to a negative value of -8, which means that the tool prints all but the last eight words.
The lyrebird can mimic almost any sounds it hears — including chainsaws, sirens, and cell phone ringtones.
The lyrebird can mimic almost any sounds it hears
Required options
These options will be used automatically if you select this example.
Displays the first N words.
Include blank lines in the output.
Head Lines
This example loads a file with a list of comedy movies and calls the head command to print the first 10 file lines to the screen. To demonstrate all the improvements of our version of head, we turn off the "Print Empty Lines" option. Thus, we effectively execute two Linux commands at once, namely the grep command to skip empty lines and the head command to print the first 10 lines of the remaining non-empty lines.
The Hangover The Grand Budapest Hotel Some Like It Hot Step Brothers Trading Places Bridesmaids Coming to America As Good as It Gets Old School School of Rock The Mask Booksmart Pulp Fiction Mean Girls
The Hangover The Grand Budapest Hotel Some Like It Hot Step Brothers Trading Places Bridesmaids Coming to America As Good as It Gets Old School School of Rock
Required options
These options will be used automatically if you select this example.
Displays the first N lines.
Include blank lines in the output.
Pro tips Master online linux tools
You can pass input to this tool via ?input query argument and it will automatically compute output. Here's how to type it in your browser's address bar. Click to try!
https://onlinelinuxtools.com/head?input=The%20speed%20of%20a%20computer%20mouse%20is%20measured%20in%20%22Mickeys.%22&print-chars=true&char-count=30&print-empty-lines=true
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Escape Shell Characters
Quickly escape special shell characters in a string.
Head a File
Quickly output the first part of the input text or data.
Tail a File
Quickly output the last part of the input text or data.
Range a File
Quickly combine head and tail commands and extract a range.
Run Seq
Quickly print a sequence of numbers to standard output.
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Evaluate expressions.
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Print prime factors of n.
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Run simple text formatter.
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Convert numbers to and from human-readable strings.
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Run paragaph reformatter (similar to fmt but better).
Run Strftime
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Truncate or extend the length of files.
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Convert spaces to tabs.
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Print the number of lines, words, and bytes in files.
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Print ascii, decimal, hexadecimal, octal dump of input data.
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Given an escaped shell string, unescape it.
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Single or double quote a shell string.
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Remove quotes from a quoted shell string.
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Convert a standard IP address to a long numeric IP.
Fuzzy Match
Run the fuzzy matching algorithm (fzf) on the input data.
Glob Match
Run the glob matching algorithm on the input data.
Unixify File Names
Convert filenames to Unix-friendly filenames.
Unixify File Paths
Convert a Windows path (reverse slash) to Unix path (slash).
Windowsify File Paths
Convert a Unix path (slash) to a Windows path (reverse slash).
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Create random Unix paths of directories and files.
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Apply fuzzing on a file path and add mistakes in it.
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Given human-readable date and time, create crontab string.
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Given a crontab string, make it human-readable.
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