How to read 2nd to last line using head or tail command

techie_san778 · 09-24-2013, 01:35 AM

Hello Everyone!!

Suppose a file has got 20 lines of text.
I want to display 2nd line to last line (don't want
the 1st line). How can i achieve this using head or tail command ?

Thanks in advance..

zhjim · 09-24-2013, 01:46 AM

As head and tail print out 10 lines per default you need the -n option. As you want all but the first line subtract 1 from 20 and give this to the -n option as an argument.

In case you need to find out how much lines a file has use wc -l <filename>.

Firerat · 09-24-2013, 02:03 AM

I guess it depends

if you always want line 19 of a 20 line file then this will do it

Code:

awk '{if ( NR == "19" ) print}' InputFile

you could also use a variable
e.g.

Code:

IwantLine=19
awk '{if ( NR == '${IwantLine}' ) print}' InputFile

but a simple head | tail

Code:

tail -n2 InputFile | head -n1

It really depends on why you want "line 19"

lets pretend line 19 as the string, FooBar in it

Code:

grep "FooBar" InputFile

or

Code:

awk '/FooBar/{print}' InputFile

awk is more useful if you want/need to manipulate the line in anyway, maybe you only want certain 'fields'

if you give more 'context' ( sample input, what your goal is ) we can give you better guidance.

techie_san778 · 09-24-2013, 02:50 AM

Thanks everyone for ur replies.. i will check on my system and revert back with results..
Thanks again...

druuna · 09-24-2013, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by techie_san778

Suppose a file has got 20 lines of text.
I want to display 2nd line to last line (don't want
the 1st line). How can i achieve this using head or tail command ?

This will show the last 19 lines of a file:

Code:

tail -19n infile

The above is handy when you know the amount of lines in a file, if you don't know then sed might be better to use. The following prints from line 2 to the end of the file:

Code:

sed -n '2,$p' infile

The 2,$ is a line range and the $ is special and denotes the last line.

colucix · 09-24-2013, 03:01 AM

Or simply use the -n +K option of tail:

Code:

tail -n +2 file

Firerat · 09-24-2013, 03:11 AM

I think I need more coffee

I read it as "second to last line", as in the line before the last

techie_san778 · 09-29-2013, 08:09 AM

@colucix : Yes, i also found out this command to be the most appropriate !!