Windows
Linux
PowerShell Equivalents
Text Processing
Windows PowerShell Measure-Object equivalent in Linux
Counts lines, words, bytes or characters in text files and streams.
Windows
→
PowerShell Measure-Object
Linux equivalents
wc FILE
wc FILE
wc FILE
Overview
What this command does
Counts lines, words, bytes or characters in text files and streams.
Migration tip:
wc -l is especially useful in pipelines when you need the number of matching records.Practical tasks
Common use cases
Count lines, words and bytes
Counts lines, words, bytes or characters in text files and streams.
wc file.txt
Show lines, words and bytes
wc -l file.txt
Count lines only
grep -i error app.log | wc -l
Count matching log lines
Ready to run
Copyable Linux commands
Review paths, device names, package names and permissions before running any command.
wc file.txt
wc -l file.txt
grep -i error app.log | wc -l
Walkthrough
Examples with explanations
wc file.txt # measure a text file
wc -l file.txt # count lines
grep -i error app.log | wc -l # count search resultsReference
Common options and variations
| Command or option | Use |
|---|---|
wc file.txt | Show lines, words and bytes |
wc -l file.txt | Count lines only |
grep -i error app.log | wc -l | Count matching log lines |
Distro differences
Debian/Ubuntu vs Fedora vs Arch
This command is the same on Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch Linux when the relevant tool is installed.
| Distribution | Package manager / base | Equivalent command | Difference to notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian/Ubuntu | same command | wc FILE |
Same command on this distribution. |
| Fedora | same command | wc FILE |
Same command on this distribution. |
| Arch | same command | wc FILE |
Same command on this distribution. |
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