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 an argument beginning with one of “lwc” is present, the specified counts (lines, words, or characters) are selected by the letters l, w, or c.  The default is −lwc.