wc(1) - Linux man page

Name

wc - print newline, word, and byte counts for each file

Synopsis

wc [OPTION]... [FILE]...
wc [OPTION]... --files0-from=F

Description

Print newline, word, and byte counts for each FILE, and a total line if more than one FILE is specified. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

-c, --bytes
print the byte counts
-m, --chars
print the character counts
-l, --lines
print the newline counts
--files0-from=F
read input from the files specified by NUL-terminated names in file F; If F is - then read names from standard input
-L, --max-line-length
print the length of the longest line
-w, --words
print the word counts
--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit

Sample Code

Number of lines

  • $ wc -l a_file

    • Number of words

  • $ wc -w a_file

    • Count of bytes

  • $ wc -c a_file

    • Count of characters

  • $ wc -m a_file

    • Length of longest line

  • $ wc -L a_file

    • Author

    Written by Paul Rubin and David MacKenzie.

    Reporting Bugs

    Report wc bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
    General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
    Report wc translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

    See Also

    The full documentation for wc is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and wc programs are properly installed at your site, the command

    info coreutils aqwc invocationaq

    should give you access to the complete manual.

    Referenced By

    flowdumper(1), gc(1), ip(8), nop(1), xs(1)