wc - Word, line and byte/character count
Synopsis
wc [-c | -m] [-lw] [file ...]
Description
The wc utility displays the number of lines, words, and bytes contained in each input file (or standard input, by default) to standard output. A line is defined as a string of characters delimited by a newline character. A word is defined as a string of characters delimited by white space characters. If more than one input file is specified, a line of cumulative counts for all the files is displayed on a separate line after the output for the last file.
Options
- c
- Write to standard output the number of bytes in each input file.
- l
- Write to standard output the number of lines in each input file.
- m
- Write to standard output the number of characters in each input file.
- w
- Write to standard output the number of words in each input file.
Operands
When an option is specified, wc only reports the information requested by that option. The default action is equivalent to specifying all of the flags.
If no files are specified, the standard input is used and no file name is displayed.
Exit status
- 0 when successful
- >0 when an error occurred