perl -pe 'BEGIN{ $lines = 10 } last if $. > $lines' < file
[download]

Update: my perlgolf entry is:

perl -pe'$.>10&&last' file
[download]

Many ways you can do this. Here's one:

use strict;
use warnings;

my $file = shift;

print head($file);

sub head {
  my ($file,$count) = @_;
  $count ||= 10;
  open FILE, '<', $file or die "Cannot open ($file) for reading: $!";
  my @data;
  while (defined (my $line = <FILE>)) {
    push @data => $line;
    last if $. >= $count;
  }
  close FILE            or die "Cannot close ($file): $!";
  return @data;
}
[download]

Cheers,
Ovid

New address of my CGI Course.
Silence is Evil (feel free to copy and distribute widely - note copyright text)

Adjust as required.

perl -ple" exit if $. == 20" file
[download]

which only prints 19 lines of the file...
--
3dan

Good point!

perl -ple"exit if $. > 20"
[download]

---

Examine what is said, not who speaks.
"Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
"When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong." -Richard Buckminster Fuller

Cheers - L~R