Linux: Display First Ten Lines (1-10) With Numbers Command

Author: Vivek Gite Last updated: February 28, 2014 2 comments

I‘m a new Linux user. I have various text files. I need to show first ten lines of each file. How can I display 1-10 line numbers in Linux or Unix-like system using shell prompt?

You need to use the combinations of the following Linux or Unix-like system commands:

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	No
Requirements	None
Est. reading time	1m

sed command
cat command
less command
awk command
mapfile command (Bash v4.x only)

To display 1 to 10 lines from /etc/passwd file and number all output lines, enter:

sed -n "1,10p" /etc/passwd | cat -n

Sample outputs:

Fig.01: Linux/Unix: Bash/KSH SHELL Print nth Line Of a Text File

In this example, print 50-200 lines from demo.txt and number all output lines using less command:

sed -n "50,200p" /etc/passwd | less -N

The following example use the head command to display first 10 lines of /etc/passwd file:

head +10 /etc/passwd | cat -n

Sample outputs:

1 ==> /etc//passwd

Display 10-20 lines using head and tail combo as follows:

head -20 /etc/group | tail -n 10 | cat -n

Sample outputs:

     1	nobody:*:-2:
     2	nogroup:*:-1:
     3	wheel:*:0:root
     4	daemon:*:1:root
     5	kmem:*:2:root
     6	sys:*:3:root
     7	tty:*:4:root
     8	operator:*:5:root
     9	mail:*:6:_teamsserver
    10	bin:*:7:

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Linux: Display First Ten Lines (1-10) With Numbers Command

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