How to read first N lines of a file?

python

Solution

Python 3:

with open(path_to_file) as input_file:
    head = [next(input_file) for _ in range(lines_number)]
print(head)

Python 2:

with open(path_to_file) as input_file:
    head = [next(input_file) for _ in xrange(lines_number)]
print head

Here's another way (both Python 2 & 3):

from itertools import islice

with open(path_to_file) as input_file:
    head = list(islice(input_file, lines_number))
print(head)

Problem

We have a large raw data file that we would like to trim to a specified size. How would I go about getting the first N lines of a text file in python? Will the OS being used have any effect on the implementation?

Original source