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The dirty (but not quick) way would be: One dirty (but not quick) way is:
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{{{
    sed -n ${n}p "$file"
{{{#!highlight bash
sed -n "${n}p" "$file"
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but this reads the whole input file, even if you only wanted the third line. But this reads the entire file even if only the third line is desired, which can be avoided by using the `q` command to quit on line `$n`, and deleting all other lines with the `d` command:
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This one avoids that problem:
{{{
    sed -n "$n{p;q;}" "$file"
{{{#!highlight bash
sed "${n}q;d" "$file"
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At line $n the command "p" is run, printing it, with a "q" afterwards: quit the program. There is yet another simple way of printing only the line you want using `sed`. The `-n` option will not print anything unless `p` flag is explicitly specified. For example to print the 4th line in a file use.
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Another way, more obvious to some, is to grab the last line from a listing of the first ''n'' lines:
{{{
   head -n $n $file | tail -n 1
{{{#!highlight bash
sed -n "4p" "$file"
}}}

Another method is to grab lines starting at `n`, then get the first line of that.

{{{#!highlight bash
tail -n "+$n" "$file" | head -n 1
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{{{
   awk "NR==$n{print;exit}" file

{{{#!highlight bash
awk "NR==$n{print;exit}" "$file"
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If you want more than one line, it's pretty easy to adapt any of the previous methods: If more than one line is needed, it's easy to adapt any of the previous methods:
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{{{
   
x=3 y=4
   sed -n "$x,${y}p;${y}q;" "$file" # Print lines $x to $y; quit after $y.
   head -n $y "$file" | tail -n $((y - x + 1)) # Same
   head -n $y "$file" | tail -n +$x     # If your tail supports it
   awk "NR>=$x{print} NR==$y{exit}" "$file" # Same
{{{#!highlight bash
x=3 y=4
sed -n "$x,${y}p;${y}q;" "$file" # Print lines $x to $y; quit after $y.
head -n "$y" "$file" | tail -n "$((y - x + 1))" # Same
head -n "$y" "$file" | tail -n "+$x" # If your tail supports it
awk "NR>=$x{print} NR==$y{exit}" "$file" # Same
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=== Note ===
In most cases, you should sanitize your variable n to be sure, that it's not containing any of non-digits, before feeding it to sed or awk. You can do it with such simple code:
{{{
   # Bash
   n=${n//[!0-9]/}
Or a counter with a simple `read` loop:
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   # POSIX
   n=$(printf "%s" "$n"|tr -cd '0-9')
{{{#!highlight bash
# Bash/ksh
m=0
while ((m++ < n)) && read -r _; do
    :
done

head -n 1
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To read into a variable, it is preferable to use `read` or `mapfile` rather than an external utility. More than one line can be read into the given array variable or the default array `MAPFILE` by adjusting the argument to mapfile's -n option:

{{{#!highlight bash
# Bash4
mapfile -ts "$((n - 1))" -n 1 x <"$file"
printf '%s\n' "$x"
}}}

=== See Also ===
 * [[BashFAQ/001]]
 * http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/commands/builtin/mapfile

How can I print the n'th line of a file?

One dirty (but not quick) way is:

   1 sed -n "${n}p" "$file"

But this reads the entire file even if only the third line is desired, which can be avoided by using the q command to quit on line $n, and deleting all other lines with the d command:

   1 sed "${n}q;d" "$file"

There is yet another simple way of printing only the line you want using sed. The -n option will not print anything unless p flag is explicitly specified. For example to print the 4th line in a file use.

   1 sed -n "4p" "$file"

Another method is to grab lines starting at n, then get the first line of that.

   1 tail -n "+$n" "$file" | head -n 1

Another approach, using AWK:

   1 awk "NR==$n{print;exit}" "$file"

If more than one line is needed, it's easy to adapt any of the previous methods:

   1 x=3 y=4
   2 sed -n "$x,${y}p;${y}q;" "$file"                # Print lines $x to $y; quit after $y.
   3 head -n "$y" "$file" | tail -n "$((y - x + 1))"   # Same
   4 head -n "$y" "$file" | tail -n "+$x"            # If your tail supports it
   5 awk "NR>=$x{print} NR==$y{exit}" "$file"        # Same

Or a counter with a simple read loop:

   1 # Bash/ksh
   2 m=0
   3 while ((m++ < n)) && read -r _; do
   4     :
   5 done
   6 
   7 head -n 1

To read into a variable, it is preferable to use read or mapfile rather than an external utility. More than one line can be read into the given array variable or the default array MAPFILE by adjusting the argument to mapfile's -n option:

   1 # Bash4
   2 mapfile -ts "$((n - 1))" -n 1 x <"$file"
   3 printf '%s\n' "$x"

See Also


CategoryShell

BashFAQ/011 (last edited 2020-05-07 08:35:17 by intranet)