wc

The wc command is a popular command-line tool in Unix-like operating systems, which stands for "word count." It is used to display the line count, word count, and byte count of a given file or set of files. When executed without any options, wc displays the newline count, word count, and byte count of the input.

The wc command has multiple options that allow users to modify its behavior. For example, the -l option only displays the line count, whereas the -w option only displays the word count. Similarly, the -c option only displays the byte count. It is also possible to combine these options, such as using -lw to display both the line and word count.

The wc command also supports reading input from standard input rather than a file, which is helpful for pipelines and interactive usage. By default, when no file is provided as an argument, wc reads from standard input.

One important feature of wc is its ability to count characters while taking into account different character encodings. It can accurately count characters in ASCII, UTF-8, and various other character encodings.

The wc command is often used in combination with other commands, as part of a larger command-line pipeline. For example, one might use wc to count the number of lines in a file and then use that count for further processing.

Overall, the wc command is a versatile and useful tool for counting lines, words, and bytes in files, making it handy for various text processing tasks in the command line environment.