# wc

_Peios / Using Peios / Peiosutils / Transforming text_

> Count the lines, words, and bytes in files.

`wc` — "word count" — counts what is in a file: its lines, its words, and its bytes.

```
wc [options] [file...]
```

```
$ wc report.txt
  214  1832 12044 report.txt
```

By default `wc` prints three numbers per file — **lines, words, bytes** — followed by the file name. Given several files, it adds a `total` line. With no file, it reads standard input.

## Choosing what to count

Pass any of these and `wc` prints only the counts you ask for, in the fixed order lines, words, characters/bytes, longest-line:

| Option | Counts |
|---|---|
| `-l`, `--lines` | The number of lines. |
| `-w`, `--words` | The number of words — runs of non-whitespace. |
| `-c`, `--bytes` | The number of bytes. |
| `-m`, `--chars` | The number of characters. This differs from `-c` for multi-byte text, where one character is several bytes. |
| `-L`, `--max-line-length` | The length of the longest line. |

```
$ wc -l report.txt        # just the line count
214 report.txt
```

## Other options

| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
| `--files0-from=F` | Take the list of files to count from `F`, as NUL-terminated names. `-` reads the list from standard input. |
| `--total=WHEN` | Control the `total` line: `auto` (the default — shown for more than one file), `always`, `only` (just the total, no per-file lines), or `never`. |

## Exit status

| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `0` | Every file was counted. |
| `1` | A file could not be read. |

Related content:

- [Transforming text](/peios/using-peios/peiosutils/transforming-text/overview.md)