Use: hdr [n] command... hdr copies the first n (default 1) lines from stdin to stdout, then execs to filter the rest of the input. It is useful for copying a header to stdout before filtering the rest of the data, since typical filters discard the header. Note that hdr is only useful if filters stdin! Example: $ ps -ef | hdr grep bash UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD will 20306 6535 0 13:14 pts/9 00:00:00 hdr grep bash