Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Name

wc

Synopsis

wc [options] [files]

Print byte, word, and line counts for each file. Print a total line for multiple files. If files is omitted or is -, read standard input. See other examples under ls and sort.

Options

-c, --bytes

Print byte count only.

-l, --lines

Print line count only.

-L, --max-line-length

Print length of longest line.

-m, --chars

Print character count only.

-w, --words

Print word count only.

--help

Print help message and then exit.

--version

Print the version number and then exit.

Examples

Count the number of users logged in:

who | wc -l

Count the words in three essay files:

wc -w essay.[123]

Count lines in the file named by variable $file (don’t display filename):

wc -l < $file