Linux wc Command

Linux Command Manual

The Linux wc command is used to count words.

Using the wc command, we can calculate the number of bytes, words, or lines in a file. If no file name is specified, or if the provided file name is "-", the wc command will read data from the standard input device.

Syntax

wc [-clw][--help][--version][file...]

Parameters:

-c or --bytes or --chars: Displays only the number of bytes.
-l or --lines: Displays the number of lines.
-w or --words: Displays only the number of words.
--help: Provides online help.
--version: Displays version information.

Example

By default, wc calculates the number of lines, words, and bytes in the specified file. The command used is:

wc testfile

First, view the contents of the testfile:

$ cat testfile
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Using wc to count, the result is as follows:

$ wc testfile           # Statistics for the testfile
3 92 598 testfile       # The testfile has 3 lines, 92 words, and 598 bytes

Here, the three numbers represent the number of lines, words, and bytes in the testfile, respectively.

To count information for multiple files, such as testfile, testfile_1, and testfile_2, use the following command:

wc testfile testfile_1 testfile_2   # Count information for three files

The output is as follows:

$ wc testfile testfile_1 testfile_2  # Count information for three files
3 92 598 testfile                    # First file has 3 lines, 92 words, and 598 bytes
9 18 78 testfile_1                   # Second file has 9 lines, 18 words, and 78 bytes
3 6 32 testfile_2                    # Third file has 3 lines, 6 words, and 32 bytes
15 116 708 total                     # Total for all three files: 15 lines, 116 words, and 708 bytes

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