wc

wc [options] [files]

Print a character, word, and line count for files. If no files are given, read standard input. See other examples under ls and sort.

Options

-c

Print character count only.

-l

Print line count only.

-w

Print word count only.

Examples

Count the number of users logged in:

who | wc -l

Count the words in three essay files:

wc -w essay.[123]

Count lines in variable $file (don't display filename):

wc -l <$file