wc_tool

word, line, character, and byte count

A simple version of the Unix command line tool wc to practice C programming.

Inspired by CodingChallenges: https://codingchallenges.fyi/challenges/challenge-wc

Usage

wc [-clmwh] [file]

The wc utility displays the number of lines, words, and bytes contained in a single input file, or standard input (if no file is specified) to the standard output. A line is defined as a string of characters delimited by a newline character.

A word is defined as a string of characters delimited by white space characters. White space characters are the set of characters for which the iswspace() function returns true.

-c    The number of bytes in the input file or standard input.
-l    The number of lines in the input file or standard input.
-m    The number of characters in the input file or standard input.
      If the current locale does not support multibyte characters, this is equivalent to the -c option.
-w    The number of words in the input file or standard input.
-h    Print this usage message.

The default action is equivalent to specifying the -c, -l and -w options.

If no file is specified, the standard input is used and no file name is displayed. The prompt will accept input until receiving EOF, or [^D] in most environments.