What is the correct flag for the head command to show a specific number of lines?

The flag to use with the head command to specify the number of lines to display is indeed -n. When using the head command, appending -n followed by a number allows users to define how many lines from the beginning of the file they wish to see.

For example, executing head -n 5 filename will show the first five lines of the specified file. This flexibility is particularly useful for quickly previewing parts of a larger file without having to open it fully.

The other options do not serve this purpose: -l is typically associated with listing directory contents in other commands, --lines is not a standard option for head, and -c is used to specify the number of bytes to display instead of lines. This distinction highlights how the commands' flags are tailored for specific functionalities, making -n the correct choice for setting the number of lines to output.