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Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
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{{{
    sed -n ${n}p "$file"
{{{#!highlight bash
sed -n "${n}p" "$file"
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But this reads the entire file even if only the third line is desired, which can be avoided by printing line {{{$n}}} using the "p" command, followed by a "q" to exit the script:
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{{{
    sed -n "$n{p;q;}" "$file"
But this reads the entire file even if only the third line is desired, which can be avoided by using the `q` command to quit on line `$n`, and deleting all other lines with the `d` command:

{{{#!highlight bash
sed "${n}q;d" "$file"
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Another method is to grab the last line from a listing of the first {{{n}}} lines:
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{{{
   head -n $n $file | tail -n 1
Another method is to grab the last line from a listing of the first `n` lines:

{{{#!highlight bash
head -n "$n" "$file" | tail -n 1
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{{{
   awk "NR==$n{print;exit}" file
{{{#!highlight bash
awk "NR==$n{print;exit}" "$file"
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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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In Bash 4, a pure-bash solution can be achieved succinctly using the {{{mapfile}}} builtin. More than one line can be read into the array {{{MAPFILE}}} by adjusting the argument to mapfile's -n option:
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{{{
   mapfile -ts $((n-1)) -n 1 < "$file"
   echo "${MAPFILE[0]}"
Or a counter with a simple `read` loop:

{{{#!highlight bash
# Bash/ksh
m=0
while ((m++ < n)) && read -r _; do
    :
done

head -n 1
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{{{mapfile}}} can also be used similarly to {{{head}}} while avoiding buffering issues in the event input is a pipe:
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{{{
   { mapfile -n $n; head -n 1; } <"$file"
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"

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"

Another method is to grab the last line from a listing of the first n lines:

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