If you are logged into a server via SSH and want to quickly check the "top" of a file (e.g., to see meta tags, SSI include paths, or the DOCTYPE), use the head command.
The Command:
head -n 20 filename.shtml
Why use this?
This is the fastest way to see the raw source code. It allows you to check if the file has the correct <!--#include file="header.html" --> directive at the very top without opening a heavy text editor. view shtml top
If you have tried to view shtml top and see raw code instead of a navigation bar, you have a problem. Here is the debugging checklist.
Some older Apache modules (e.g., mod_include) allowed debugging SSI with: If you are logged into a server via
<!--#printenv -->
But no native view shtml top command exists.
In IIS (Windows) with SSI support, you might view parsed output via browser, but again, no specific “top” view. Why use this
Most commonly, a developer searches this when they want to see the beginning of an SHTML page—often to debug why a header isn't rendering. If an SHTML page fails, the error (like a missing include) usually appears near the top of the file.