[SOLVED] unix- show the second line of the file

Issue

this command displays the second line of the file :

cat myfile | head -2 | tail -1

My file contains the following data :

hello
mark
this is the head line
this is the first line 
this is the second line 
this is the last line

the command above prints the data as: mark

But i am unable to understand this because, head -2 is used to print the first two lines and tail -1 prints the last line but how come 2nd line is printed!!???

Solution

tail displays the last line of the head output and the last line of the head output is the second line of the file.

Output of head (input to tail):

hello
mark

Output of tail:

mark

Answered By - perreal

Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (WPSolving Admin)