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wc command: count lines, words and bytes

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wc counts the lines, words and bytes in a file. Learn how to count log lines, how to count what `grep` found, and how to get the number on its own, by running the commands in a real terminal in your browser.

Updated: 2026-09-06

Syntax

wc [options] file...

With no options it prints lines, words and bytes, in that order.

Try it first

$ wc logs/app.log
 10  28 200 logs/app.log

That is 10 lines, 28 words and 200 bytes.

OptionWhat it counts
-lLines
-wWords
-cBytes

-l is the one you will use almost every time.

$ wc -l logs/app.log
10 logs/app.log

Words and bytes work the same way.

$ wc -w notes.txt
9 notes.txt
$ wc -c notes.txt
41 notes.txt

Counting several files at once

List more than one file and you get a total at the end.

$ wc -l users.csv notes.txt
4 users.csv
3 notes.txt
7 total

Patterns such as *.csv work too.

$ wc -l *.csv
4 users.csv

Counting what another command found

wc earns its place at the end of a pipe.

$ grep ERROR logs/app.log | wc -l
3

Three lines matched. To count files, pipe ls into it.

$ ls | wc -l
4

Getting the number on its own

Pass a file name and wc prints the name back with the count. Feed the contents in with < and there is no name to print, so you get the number alone.

$ wc -l < logs/app.log
10

That is the form to use when a script needs the count in a variable.

When you actually reach for it

wc is what you type to decide whether something is a lot or a little.

SituationWhat to type
Count the errors in a loggrep ERROR app.log | wc -l
Check how long a file is before opening itwc -l app.log
Count the files in a directoryls logs | wc -l
Count files matching a patternfind . -name "*.js" | wc -l
Get the number by itselfwc -l < app.log

Things that trip people up

If you only need the count, grep -c is shorter.

$ grep -c ERROR logs/app.log
3

Same number as grep ... | wc -l. Pipe when you also want to see the matching lines, use -c when you only want how many.

-c counts bytes, not characters. Text with multi-byte characters in it will not match what you would count by eye.

Directories cannot be counted.

$ wc -l logs
wc: logs: Is a directory

To count what is inside one, use ls logs | wc -l.

A missing file says so.

$ wc -l nope.txt
wc: nope.txt: No such file or directory

Practise it hands-on

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Related commands

grep / sort / cat / find

Frequently asked questions

What does wc stand for?
Word count. In practice though the flag you reach for is `-l`, counting lines, to find out how many log entries or files you are dealing with.
What are the three numbers?
Lines, words and bytes, in that order. Add `-l`, `-w` or `-c` to print just one of them.
How do I get the number without the file name?
Feed the file in with `<`, as in `wc -l < file`. Given a file name wc prints it back; given standard input it has no name to print.
How do I count what grep found?
`grep ERROR app.log | wc -l` works. `grep -c ERROR app.log` gives the same number and is shorter when counting is all you want.
What happens if I pass a directory?
You get `wc: logs: Is a directory`. To count the files inside it, pipe instead: `ls logs | wc -l`.