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2

I am writing a program on using wc -m/wc -c to count the amount of letters in a string. It counts the letters, but adds one extra. This is what I currently have:

echo "enter a word"
read var1
echo $var1 | wc -c

When I enter the word, it successfully does something, however, for example if I enter "test" it will output 5.

Why is it doing this and is there a fix?

wc

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

ilkkachu

62.4k10103179

asked Oct 20 '14 at 12:24

Joe DaleJoe Dale

365

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Related: How does word count work for newline (-l)? Number of newlines or lines
  
  – slm♦
  Oct 20 '14 at 12:35
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

2

I am writing a program on using wc -m/wc -c to count the amount of letters in a string. It counts the letters, but adds one extra. This is what I currently have:

echo "enter a word"
read var1
echo $var1 | wc -c

When I enter the word, it successfully does something, however, for example if I enter "test" it will output 5.

Why is it doing this and is there a fix?

wc

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

ilkkachu

62.4k10103179

asked Oct 20 '14 at 12:24

Joe DaleJoe Dale

365

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Related: How does word count work for newline (-l)? Number of newlines or lines
  
  – slm♦
  Oct 20 '14 at 12:35
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I am writing a program on using wc -m/wc -c to count the amount of letters in a string. It counts the letters, but adds one extra. This is what I currently have:

echo "enter a word"
read var1
echo $var1 | wc -c

When I enter the word, it successfully does something, however, for example if I enter "test" it will output 5.

Why is it doing this and is there a fix?

wc

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

ilkkachu

62.4k10103179

asked Oct 20 '14 at 12:24

Joe DaleJoe Dale

365

echo "enter a word"
read var1
echo $var1 | wc -c

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

ilkkachu

62.4k10103179

asked Oct 20 '14 at 12:24

Joe DaleJoe Dale

365

share|improve this question

edited yesterday

ilkkachu

62.4k10103179

asked Oct 20 '14 at 12:24

Joe DaleJoe Dale

365

edited yesterday

ilkkachu

62.4k10103179

edited yesterday

ilkkachu

62.4k10103179

asked Oct 20 '14 at 12:24

Joe DaleJoe Dale

365

asked Oct 20 '14 at 12:24

Joe DaleJoe Dale

365

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

4

This has to do with the command you're using to pipe the string to wc. The echo command is slipping in an extra character at the end of your string, test, a new newline character, n.

So in effect you're counting this: testn. You can disable this behavior with the -n switch to echo.

$ echo -n "test" | wc -c
4

Or use a different command to generate your string, such as printf:

$ printf "%s" "test" | wc -c
4

Seeing what's happening

You can use od to see the actual characters that are getitng passed to the pipe like so:

$ echo "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t n
0000005

$ echo -n "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t
0000004

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 20 '14 at 12:32

slm♦slm

254k71538687

add a comment | 

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4

This has to do with the command you're using to pipe the string to wc. The echo command is slipping in an extra character at the end of your string, test, a new newline character, n.

So in effect you're counting this: testn. You can disable this behavior with the -n switch to echo.

$ echo -n "test" | wc -c
4

Or use a different command to generate your string, such as printf:

$ printf "%s" "test" | wc -c
4

Seeing what's happening

You can use od to see the actual characters that are getitng passed to the pipe like so:

$ echo "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t n
0000005

$ echo -n "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t
0000004

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 20 '14 at 12:32

slm♦slm

254k71538687

add a comment | 

4

This has to do with the command you're using to pipe the string to wc. The echo command is slipping in an extra character at the end of your string, test, a new newline character, n.

So in effect you're counting this: testn. You can disable this behavior with the -n switch to echo.

$ echo -n "test" | wc -c
4

Or use a different command to generate your string, such as printf:

$ printf "%s" "test" | wc -c
4

Seeing what's happening

You can use od to see the actual characters that are getitng passed to the pipe like so:

$ echo "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t n
0000005

$ echo -n "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t
0000004

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 20 '14 at 12:32

slm♦slm

254k71538687

add a comment | 

This has to do with the command you're using to pipe the string to wc. The echo command is slipping in an extra character at the end of your string, test, a new newline character, n.

So in effect you're counting this: testn. You can disable this behavior with the -n switch to echo.

$ echo -n "test" | wc -c
4

Or use a different command to generate your string, such as printf:

$ printf "%s" "test" | wc -c
4

Seeing what's happening

You can use od to see the actual characters that are getitng passed to the pipe like so:

$ echo "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t n
0000005

$ echo -n "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t
0000004

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 20 '14 at 12:32

slm♦slm

254k71538687

$ echo -n "test" | wc -c
4

$ printf "%s" "test" | wc -c
4

$ echo "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t n
0000005

$ echo -n "test" | od -c
0000000 t e s t
0000004

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 20 '14 at 12:32

slm♦slm

254k71538687

answered Oct 20 '14 at 12:32

slm♦slm

254k71538687

answered Oct 20 '14 at 12:32

slm♦slm

254k71538687