#!/usr/bin/python

import subprocess

p = subprocess.Popen(["tail", "-n 3", "passlist"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)

output, err = p.communicate()

print  output

这个方法对我很有效

Python 3:

with open("datafile") as myfile:
    head = [next(myfile) for x in range(N)]
print(head)

Python 2:

with open("datafile") as myfile:
    head = [next(myfile) for x in xrange(N)]
print head

下面是另一种方法(Python 2和3都是):

from itertools import islice

with open("datafile") as myfile:
    head = list(islice(myfile, N))
print(head)

基于gnibbler的投票结果(2009年11月20日0:27):这个类将head()和tail()方法添加到文件对象。

class File(file):
    def head(self, lines_2find=1):
        self.seek(0)                            #Rewind file
        return [self.next() for x in xrange(lines_2find)]

    def tail(self, lines_2find=1):  
        self.seek(0, 2)                         #go to end of file
        bytes_in_file = self.tell()             
        lines_found, total_bytes_scanned = 0, 0
        while (lines_2find+1 > lines_found and
               bytes_in_file > total_bytes_scanned): 
            byte_block = min(1024, bytes_in_file-total_bytes_scanned)
            self.seek(-(byte_block+total_bytes_scanned), 2)
            total_bytes_scanned += byte_block
            lines_found += self.read(1024).count('\n')
        self.seek(-total_bytes_scanned, 2)
        line_list = list(self.readlines())
        return line_list[-lines_2find:]

用法:

f = File('path/to/file', 'r')
f.head(3)
f.tail(3)

我自己最方便的方法:

LINE_COUNT = 3
print [s for (i, s) in enumerate(open('test.txt')) if i < LINE_COUNT]

基于列表理解的解决方案 函数open()支持迭代接口。enumerate()包含open()和return元组(index, item)，然后检查是否在可接受的范围内(如果i < LINE_COUNT)，然后简单地打印结果。

欣赏Python。；）

这里有另一个不错的解决方案与列表理解:

file = open('file.txt', 'r')

lines = [next(file) for x in range(3)]  # first 3 lines will be in this list

file.close()

没有特定的方法来读取文件对象暴露的行数。

我想最简单的方法是:

lines =[]
with open(file_name) as f:
    lines.extend(f.readline() for i in xrange(N))