head command?

Hi, I'm currently taking a unix class and I'm stuck in one of our assignments.

Problem is, I need to extract X number of lines from a flat text file in bash.

i.e. lines 1-10 or line 11-20

My professor said use the head command, but I can't seem to make it extract anything but the first X number of lines. I need to be able to specify the starting line aswell.

Appriciate any help.

Mads.

head or it brother tail cannot do what you want, see manpages.
the chip way is the fantastic 'sed'
sed -n '4,19p' inputfilename >outoutfilename
prints line 4 till line 19
nota start (4) have to be <= end (19)
this also works with strings
sed -n '/start/,/end/p' in >out
sure perl can it also

Thanks for the response.

Mads.

Found the method using head and tail:

i.e.

head -30 inputfilename | tail -20 > outputfilename

will output lines 11-30 from input i believe

Your example using sed makes more sense though. Thanks again.

Mads.

hokus:
why do you spend time to invent the horror:
head -30 inputfilename | tail -20 > outputfilename
in *nix (and in life) there are a lot of alternatives to do
the same job.
to kill a fly... use an atomic bomb.

Well, why learn liniar algebra and stay up sleepless nights writing structured essays? .. because my grade depends on it, that's why

I don't attempt to reason with the course curriculum, I just do my best to learn and sometimes ask the experts (like yourself) when nessesary.

Cheers,

to grate my left ear
i can use my left hand
but over my head, coming down, i also can use my rigth hand.
both work.
no time for that, but sure 1+0 could be
(x + sin(y) - cos(z) + sqrt(q)) / bessel(a,c)