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31 .\" @(#)wc.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
38 .Nd word, line, character, and byte count
47 utility displays the number of lines, words, and bytes contained in each
50 or standard input (if no file is specified) to the standard output.
51 A line is defined as a string of characters delimited by a
54 Characters beyond the final
56 character will not be included
59 A word is defined as a string of characters delimited by white space
61 White space characters are the set of characters for which the
63 function returns true.
64 If more than one input file is specified, a line of cumulative counts
65 for all the files is displayed on a separate line after the output for
68 The following options are available:
69 .Bl -tag -width indent
73 in a selection of different human and machine readable formats.
76 for details on command line arguments.
78 Write the length of the line containing the most bytes (default) or characters
85 argument is specified, the longest input line of
87 files is reported as the value of the final
90 The number of bytes in each input file
91 is written to the standard output.
92 This will cancel out any prior usage of the
96 The number of lines in each input file
97 is written to the standard output.
99 The number of characters in each input file is written to the standard output.
100 If the current locale does not support multibyte characters, this
104 This will cancel out any prior usage of the
108 The number of words in each input file
109 is written to the standard output.
112 When an option is specified,
114 only reports the information requested by that option.
115 The order of output always takes the form of line, word,
117 The default action is equivalent to specifying the
123 If no files are specified, the standard input is used and no
124 file name is displayed.
125 The prompt will accept input until receiving EOF, or
127 in most environments.
137 signal, the interim data will be written
138 to the standard error output in the same format
139 as the standard completion message.
145 environment variables affect the execution of
152 Count the number of characters, words and lines in each of the files
156 as well as the totals for both:
158 .Dl "wc -mlw report1 report2"
160 Find the longest line in a list of files:
162 .Dl "wc -L file1 file2 file3 | fgrep total"
166 utility was documented to define a word as a
169 characters delimited by <space>, <tab> or <newline> characters
171 The implementation, however, did not handle non-printing characters
173 .Dq Li "\ \ ^D^E\ \ "
174 counted as 6 spaces, while
176 counted as 8 characters.
180 modified the implementation to be consistent
181 with the documentation.
182 This implementation defines a
186 function, as required by
191 option is a non-standard
193 extension, compatible with the