What does wc do? And how do you use it to count words in a file?

Question

I'm new to the Linux/Unix world but found this decent online resource https://linuxjourney.com that's sort of explains some general command line code. I'm running an Oracle VM with Ubuntu based variant. I'm away from my computer now so I don't know which version but I'm fairly certain it's bash4

``man wc``, for get its manual, or Googling... – Zulu Jun 06 '16 at 23:17 — Zulu, Jun 06 '16 at 23:17
https://www.shellscript.sh/hints.html – Channa Mar 30 '20 at 18:09 — Channa, Mar 30 '20 at 18:09

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 06 '16 at 23:07

WC (Word Count) is a simple command line utility that displays the number of words in a file. It is especially useful for text files. Word documents, Libre office documents etc are a different matter.

Simply type 'wc ' and it will output the number of words in the file. If you need more information, type 'man wc' in a terminal and it will show you the full list of options.

What does wc do? And how do you use it to count words in a file?

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