diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/FsCommand.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/FsCommand.java
index f274f67304..4a134148a0 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/FsCommand.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/FsCommand.java
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ public static void registerCommands(CommandFactory factory) {
     factory.registerCommands(SetReplication.class);
     factory.registerCommands(Stat.class);
     factory.registerCommands(Tail.class);
+    factory.registerCommands(Head.class);
     factory.registerCommands(Test.class);
     factory.registerCommands(Touch.class);
     factory.registerCommands(Truncate.class);
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Head.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Head.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2280225b5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Head.java
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.fs.shell;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FSDataInputStream;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.PathIsDirectoryException;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.IOUtils;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.LinkedList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * Show the first 1KB of the file.
+ */
+@InterfaceAudience.Private
+@InterfaceStability.Unstable
+
+class Head extends FsCommand {
+  public static void registerCommands(CommandFactory factory) {
+    factory.addClass(Head.class, "-head");
+  }
+  public static final String NAME = "head";
+  public static final String USAGE = "<file>";
+  public static final String DESCRIPTION =
+      "Show the first 1KB of the file.\n";
+
+  private long endingOffset = 1024;
+
+  @Override
+  protected void processOptions(LinkedList<String> args) throws IOException {
+    CommandFormat cf = new CommandFormat(1, 1);
+    cf.parse(args);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  protected List<PathData> expandArgument(String arg) throws IOException {
+    List<PathData> items = new LinkedList<PathData>();
+    items.add(new PathData(arg, getConf()));
+    return items;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  protected void processPath(PathData item) throws IOException {
+    if (item.stat.isDirectory()) {
+      throw new PathIsDirectoryException(item.toString());
+    }
+
+    dumpToOffset(item);
+  }
+
+  private void dumpToOffset(PathData item) throws IOException {
+    FSDataInputStream in = item.fs.open(item.path);
+    try {
+      IOUtils.copyBytes(in, System.out, endingOffset, false);
+    } finally {
+      in.close();
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/site/markdown/FileSystemShell.md b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/site/markdown/FileSystemShell.md
index 71eec75be9..ec9d3c3668 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/site/markdown/FileSystemShell.md
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/site/markdown/FileSystemShell.md
@@ -400,6 +400,19 @@ Exit Code:
 
 Returns 0 on success and non-zero on error.
 
+head
+----
+
+Usage: `hadoop fs -head URI`
+
+Displays first kilobyte of the file to stdout.
+
+Example:
+
+* `hadoop fs -head pathname`
+
+Exit Code: Returns 0 on success and -1 on error.
+
 help
 ----
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSShell.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSShell.java
index 9ae49aa9ef..e82863a34a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSShell.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSShell.java
@@ -892,6 +892,33 @@ public void testURIPaths() throws Exception {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Test that -head displays first kilobyte of the file to stdout.
+   */
+  @Test (timeout = 30000)
+  public void testHead() throws Exception {
+    final int fileLen = 5 * BLOCK_SIZE;
+
+    // create a text file with multiple KB bytes (and multiple blocks)
+    final Path testFile = new Path("testHead", "file1");
+    final String text = RandomStringUtils.randomAscii(fileLen);
+    try (OutputStream pout = dfs.create(testFile)) {
+      pout.write(text.getBytes());
+    }
+    final ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    System.setOut(new PrintStream(out));
+    final String[] argv = new String[]{"-head", testFile.toString()};
+    final int ret = ToolRunner.run(new FsShell(dfs.getConf()), argv);
+
+    assertEquals(Arrays.toString(argv) + " returned " + ret, 0, ret);
+    assertEquals("-head returned " + out.size() + " bytes data, expected 1KB",
+            1024, out.size());
+    // tailed out last 1KB of the file content
+    assertArrayEquals("Head output doesn't match input",
+            text.substring(0, 1024).getBytes(), out.toByteArray());
+    out.reset();
+  }
+
   /**
    * Test that -tail displays last kilobyte of the file to stdout.
    */