NAME

wc − word count

SYNTAX

wc [ −lwc ] [ name... ]

DESCRIPTION

The wc command counts lines, words and characters in the named files, or in the standard input if no name appears.  A word is a maximal string of characters delimited by spaces, tabs or newlines. 

If the optional argument is present, just the specified counts (lines, words or characters) are selected by −l, −w, or −c, respectively.