xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/wc/wc.1 (revision 23c8222edbfb0f0932d88a8351d3a0cf817dfb9e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: wc.1,v 1.13 2003/08/07 11:17:15 agc Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1991, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
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6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
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33.\"     from: @(#)wc.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
34.\"
35.Dd April 19, 1994
36.Dt WC 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm wc
40.Nd word, line, and byte count
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl c | Fl m
44.Op Fl lw
45.Op Ar file ...
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47The
48.Nm
49utility displays the number of lines, words, bytes and characters contained in each
50input
51.Ar file
52(or standard input, by default) to the standard output.
53A line is defined as a string of characters delimited by a \*[Lt]newline\*[Gt]
54character,
55and a word is defined as a string of characters delimited by white space
56characters.
57White space characters are the set of characters for which the
58.Xr iswspace 3
59function returns true.
60If more than one input file is specified, a line of cumulative counts
61for all the files is displayed on a separate line after the output for
62the last file.
63.Pp
64The following options are available:
65.Bl -tag -width Ds
66.It Fl c
67The number of bytes in each input file
68is written to the standard output.
69.It Fl l
70The number of lines in each input file
71is written to the standard output.
72.It Fl m
73The number of characters in each input file
74is written to the standard output.
75.It Fl w
76The number of words in each input file
77is written to the standard output.
78.El
79.Pp
80When an option is specified,
81.Nm
82only
83reports the
84information requested by that option. The
85default action is equivalent to all the
86flags
87.Fl clw
88having been specified.
89.Pp
90The following operands are available:
91.Bl -tag -width Ds
92.It Ar file
93A pathname of an input file.
94.El
95.Pp
96If no file names
97are specified, the standard input is used and
98no file name is displayed.
99.Pp
100By default, the standard output contains a line for each
101input file of the form:
102.Bd -literal -offset indent
103lines	 words	bytes	file_name
104.Ed
105.Pp
106The
107.Nm
108utility exits 0 on success, and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurs.
109.Sh SEE ALSO
110.Xr iswspace 3
111.Sh COMPATIBILITY
112Historically, the
113.Nm
114utility was documented to define a word as a ``maximal string of
115characters delimited by \*[Lt]space\*[Gt], \*[Lt]tab\*[Gt] or \*[Lt]newline\*[Gt] characters''.
116The implementation, however, didn't handle non-printing characters
117correctly so that ``  ^D^E  '' counted as 6 spaces, while ``foo^D^Ebar''
118counted as 8 characters.
119.Bx 4
120systems after
121.Bx 4.3
122modified the implementation to be consistent
123with the documentation.
124This implementation defines a ``word'' in terms of the
125.Xr iswspace 3
126function, as required by
127.St -p1003.2 .
128.Sh STANDARDS
129The
130.Nm
131utility conforms to
132.St -p1003.2-92 .
133