NAME

wc − word count

SYNOPSIS

wc [−lwc] [names]

DESCRIPTION

wc counts lines, words, and characters in the named files, or in the standard input if no names appear.  It also keeps a total count for all named files.  A word is a maximal string of characters delimited by spaces, tabs, or newlines. 

The options l, w, and c may be used in any combination to specify that a subset of lines, words, and characters are to be reported.  The default is −lwc. 

When names are specified on the command line, they will be printed along with the counts. 

INTERNATIONAL FUNCTIONS

Files can contain characters from supplementary code sets. 

With the −c option, characters from supplementary code sets are counted in bytes, not characters.  With the −w option, characters from supplementary code sets are ignored during counting. 

  —  Essential Utilities