WC(1)                        UNIX Reference Manual                       WC(1)

NAME

     wc - Word, line, and byte count.

SYNOPSIS

     wc [-clw] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

     The wc utility reads one or more input text files, and, by default,
     writes the number of lines, words, and bytes contained in each input file
     to the standard output.  If more than one input file is specified, a line
     of cumulative count(s) for all named files is output on a separate line
     following the last file count.  Wc considers a word to be a maximal
     string of characters delimited by white space.

     The following options are available:

     -c      The number of bytes in each input file is written to the standard
             output.

     -l      The number of lines in each input file is written to the standard
             output.

     -w      The number of words in each input file is written to the standard
             output.

     When an option is specified, wc only reports the information requested by
     that option. The default action is equivalent to all the flags -clw hav-
     ing been specified.

     The following operands are available:

     file    A pathname of an input file.

     If no file names are specified, the standard input is used and a file
     name is not output. The resulting output is one line of the requested
     count(s) with the cumulative sum of all files read in via standard input.

     By default, the standard output contains a line for each input file of
     the form:

           lines    words  bytes   file_name

     The counts for lines, words and bytes are integers separated by spaces.
     The ordering of the display of the number of lines, words, and/or bytes
     is the order in which the options were specified.

     The wc utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

STANDARDS

     The wc function conforms to IEEE Std1003.2 (``POSIX'').

BSD Experimental                 June 27, 1991                               1