Linux head tail Guide

Linux head and tail Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to head and tail on Linux, covering Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions including viewing file beginnings, file endings, and file monitoring.

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Table of Contents

1. Understanding head and tail
2. head Usage
3. tail Usage
4. Following Files
5. Troubleshooting

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Understanding head and tail

What are head and tail?

head shows first lines of file.

tail shows last lines of file.

Uses:

• View beginning: See file start
• View ending: See file end
• Monitor logs: Watch log files
• Quick preview: Preview files

Why they matter:

• File preview: Quick file view
• Log monitoring: Watch logs
• Data inspection: Check data files

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head Usage

First Lines

Show beginning:

# Show first 10 lines (default)
head file.txt

# Show first 20 lines
head -n 20 file.txt

# Or
head -20 file.txt

First Bytes

Show bytes:

# Show first 100 bytes
head -c 100 file.txt

# Byte count

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tail Usage

Last Lines

Show ending:

# Show last 10 lines (default)
tail file.txt

# Show last 20 lines
tail -n 20 file.txt

# Or
tail -20 file.txt

Follow File

Watch file:

# Follow file (like tail -f)
tail -f log.txt

# Watch for new lines
# Press Ctrl+C to stop

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Following Files

Monitor Logs

Watch logs:

# Follow log file
tail -f /var/log/syslog

# Or journal
journalctl -f

Multiple Files

Watch several:

# Follow multiple files
tail -f log1.txt log2.txt

# Shows both files

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Troubleshooting

head/tail Not Found

Check installation:

# Check commands
which head
which tail

# Usually in coreutils
# Install if missing
sudo pacman -S coreutils

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Summary

This guide covered head and tail usage, file viewing, and log monitoring for Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions.

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Next Steps

• Log Management - System logs
• Journalctl Troubleshooting - Journal logs
• head Documentation: man head
• tail Documentation: man tail

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This guide covers Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other Linux distributions. For distribution-specific details, refer to your distribution's documentation.