.\" Copyright (c) 1991 Regents of the University of California. .\" All rights reserved. .\" .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by .\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software .\" must display the following acknowledgement: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" from: @(#)wc.1 6.4 (Berkeley) 6/27/91 .\" $Id: wc.1,v 1.1 1995/10/18 08:46:51 deraadt Exp $ .\" .Dd June 27, 1991 .Dt WC 1 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm wc .Nd Word, line, and byte count. .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm wc .Op Fl c | Fl m .Op Fl lw .Op Ar file ... .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm 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. .Nm Wc considers a word to be a maximal string of characters delimited by white space. .Pp The following options are available: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Fl c The number of bytes in each input file is written to the standard output. .It Fl l The number of lines in each input file is written to the standard output. .It Fl m The number of characters in each input file is written to the standard output. .It Fl w The number of words in each input file is written to the standard output. .El .Pp When an option is specified, .Nm wc only reports the information requested by that option. The default action is equivalent to all the flags .Fl clw having been specified. .Pp The following operands are available: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Ar file A pathname of an input file. .El .Pp 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. .Pp By default, the standard output contains a line for each input file of the form: .Bd -literal -offset indent lines words bytes file_name .Ed .Pp The counts for lines, words and bytes are integers separated by spaces. .Pp The .Nm wc utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. .Sh STANDARDS The .Nm wc utility conforms to .St -p1003.2-92 .