How do I limit the number of files displayed using the ls command in Linux?

To limit the number of files displayed when using the ls command in Linux, you can use the head command to display only the first few lines of the output. Here is an example command that limits ls to display only the first three files or directories in the current directory:

ls | head -3

This will display the first three items in the current directory that are returned by the ls command. You can adjust the number provided after the - to display a different number of files or directories. If you want to display the last few files or directories, you can use the tail command instead of the head command with the same syntax.

Note that using head or tail with ls can be useful for displaying a limited number of files, but it’s not the best approach if you need to perform more complex operations on the files, such as sorting or filtering them. In those cases, you may want to consider using other commands like find or grep instead of ls.