Shell Script to Count Number of Words in File

Often Linux developers and system administrators need to count number of words in file. You can easily do this using wc command. But if you want to automate it, then it is advisable to create a shell script for it. In this article, we will learn how to create shell script to count number of words in file.

Shell Script to Count Number of Words in File

Here is how to create shell script to count number of words in file.

1. Create Shell Script

Run the following command to create empty shell script.

$ vi word_count.sh

2. Add Shell Script

Add the following shell script to determine the number of words in file.

#!/bin/bash
word_count=$( wc -w < $1)
echo $word_count

Save and close the file. In the above code, the first line is the execution environment. The next line counts the number of words using wc command. The file path is received as command line argument $1. The third line displays the word count.

3. Make Shell Script Executable

Next, run the chmod command to make the shell script executable.

$ sudo chmod +x word_count.sh

4. Test Shell Script

Test shell script with some of the files on your system.

$ sudo ./word_count.sh /home/data.txt
134

$ sudo ./word_count.sh /home/ubuntu/test.txt
215

In this article, we have learnt how to write shell script to determine number of words in Linux. You can customize it as per your requirement.

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