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31 .\" @(#)wc.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
39 .Nd word, line, character, and byte count
48 utility displays the number of lines, words, and bytes contained in each
51 or standard input (if no file is specified) to the standard output.
52 A line is defined as a string of characters delimited by a
55 Characters beyond the final
57 character will not be included
60 A word is defined as a string of characters delimited by white space
62 White space characters are the set of characters for which the
64 function returns true.
65 If more than one input file is specified, a line of cumulative counts
66 for all the files is displayed on a separate line after the output for
69 The following options are available:
70 .Bl -tag -width indent
74 in a selection of different human and machine readable formats.
77 for details on command line arguments.
79 Write the length of the line containing the most bytes (default) or characters
86 argument is specified, the longest input line of
88 files is reported as the value of the final
91 The number of bytes in each input file
92 is written to the standard output.
93 This will cancel out any prior usage of the
97 The number of lines in each input file
98 is written to the standard output.
100 The number of characters in each input file is written to the standard output.
101 If the current locale does not support multibyte characters, this
105 This will cancel out any prior usage of the
109 The number of words in each input file
110 is written to the standard output.
113 When an option is specified,
115 only reports the information requested by that option.
116 The order of output always takes the form of line, word,
118 The default action is equivalent to specifying the
124 If no files are specified, the standard input is used and no
125 file name is displayed.
126 The prompt will accept input until receiving EOF, or
128 in most environments.
138 signal, the interim data will be written
139 to the standard error output in the same format
140 as the standard completion message.
146 environment variables affect the execution of
153 Count the number of characters, words and lines in each of the files
157 as well as the totals for both:
159 .Dl "wc -mlw report1 report2"
161 Find the longest line in a list of files:
163 .Dl "wc -L file1 file2 file3 | fgrep total"
167 utility was documented to define a word as a
170 characters delimited by <space>, <tab> or <newline> characters
172 The implementation, however, did not handle non-printing characters
174 .Dq Li "\ \ ^D^E\ \ "
175 counted as 6 spaces, while
177 counted as 8 characters.
181 modified the implementation to be consistent
182 with the documentation.
183 This implementation defines a
187 function, as required by
192 option is a non-standard
194 extension, compatible with the