sh-2.02$ cd /usr/share/dict
sh-2.02$ tail words
zooplankton
Zorn
Zoroaster
Zoroastrian
zounds
z's
zucchini
Zulu
Zurich
zygote
sh-2.02$ head words
a
AAA
AAAS
aardvark
Aarhus
Aaron
ABA
Ababa
aback
abacus
sh-2.02$ tail -5 words
z's
zucchini
Zulu
Zurich
zygote
sh-2.02$ head -2 words
a
AAA
sh-2.02$ tail -5 words > /tmp/eg1
sh-2.02$ head -2 words > /tmp/eg2
sh-2.02$ wc /tmp/eg*
         5         5        32 /tmp/eg1
         2         2         6 /tmp/eg2
         7         7        38 total
sh-2.02$ head -5 words | tail -1
Aarhus
sh-2.02$ cat /tmp/eg1
z's
zucchini
Zulu
Zurich
zygote
sh-2.02$ cat /tmp/eg2
a
AAA
sh-2.02$ wc /tmp/eg2
         2         2         6 /tmp/eg2
sh-2.02$ head -5 words | tail -1 | wc -c
         7