The **pandas** library in Python is used to work with dataframes which structures data in rows and columns. It is widely used in data analysis and machine learning.

# Head function

The **`head` function** in Python displays the first five rows of the dataframe by default. It takes in a single parameter: the *number of rows*. We can use this parameter to display the number of rows of our choice. 

## Syntax

The `head` function is defined as follows:

```Python
dataframe.head(N)
```

> N refers to the number of rows. If no parameter is passed, the first five rows are returned.

The `head` function also supports negative values of N. In that case, all rows except the last N rows are returned.

## Example

The code snippet below shows how the `head` function is used in pandas:

import pandas as pd

# Creating a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({'Sports': ['Football', 'Cricket', 'Baseball', 'Basketball',
                'Tennis', 'Table-tennis', 'Archery', 'Swimming', 'Boxing']})

print(df.head()) # By default
print('\n')
print(df.head(3)) # Printing first 3 rows
print('\n')
print(df.head(-2)) # Printing all except the last 2 rows

# Tail function

The **`tail` function** in Python displays the last five rows of the dataframe by default. It takes in a single parameter: the *number of rows*. We can use this parameter to display the number of rows of our choice. 

## Syntax

The `tail` function is defined as follows:

```Python
dataframe.tail(N)
```

> N refers to the number of rows. If no parameter is passed, the first last rows are returned.

The `tail` function also supports negative values of N. In that case, all rows except the first N rows are returned.

## Example

The code snippet below shows how the `tail` function is used in pandas:





import pandas as pd

# Creating a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({'Sports': ['Football', 'Cricket', 'Baseball', 'Basketball',
                'Tennis', 'Table-tennis', 'Archery', 'Swimming', 'Boxing']})

print(df.tail()) # By default
print('\n')
print(df.tail(3)) # Printing last 3 rows
print('\n')
print(df.tail(-2)) # Printing all except the first 2 rows

# Summary

The illustration below summarizes `head` and `tail` functions in pandas:

What are head and tail functions in pandas?

The head function in pandas displays the first N rows of a dataframe, while the tail function shows the last N rows.